If you are in danger right now, call your local emergency number. Escrow is not an emergency service.
Is it too late to report in São Paulo?
Probably later than you think.
São Paulo does have a deadline, and it is quoted in full below rather than summarised. It is measured against the law, not against how long you have been quiet.
Checked against official sources on 27 August 2026.
the deadline in São Paulo, quoted in full
There is no short deadline, though Brazilian law does set outer limits tied to the maximum sentence. Rape (estupro, article 213 of the Penal Code) carries 6 to 10 years in prison. Under article 109 that gives prosecutors up to 16 years to bring charges from when the crime happened. It is longer if the survivor was a child, since the clock only starts once they turn 18. This means you can still report years later, but a lawyer or the DDM can confirm the exact period for your situation.
We quote this rather than shorten it. A shortened deadline is a wrong deadline, and this is the sentence a lawyer would want to read.
2 different clocks
The exam window runs in hours. The deadline runs in years.
the exam window in São Paulo
Go to a hospital emergency room or the Instituto Médico Legal (IML) as soon as you can. Ask for the exame de corpo de delito (forensic exam). The DDM can also arrange it. HIV post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is free through the SUS public health system. It works best within 72 hours of the assault, ideally the first two hours. Emergency contraception should also be taken as soon as possible, for the best chance of preventing pregnancy.
This is the clock that runs out fast. You can be examined without deciding whether to go to the police.
the limitation period
This is the deadline for the case itself — how long the law gives before a prosecution can no longer be brought. It is usually many years for rape, and often longer or unlimited when the survivor was a child.
Missing the exam window does not mean the limitation period has passed. They are separate clocks.
where to report in São Paulo
Go to a Delegacia de Defesa da Mulher (DDM), a police station staffed to investigate crimes against women, including sexual offences. You can also go to a Casa da Mulher Brasileira. It puts a women's police station, prosecutors, psychologists and shelter referrals in one building. São Paulo's Casa da Mulher Brasileira is on Rua Vieira Ravasco, 26, Cambuci. Ligue 180 can register your complaint by phone and direct you to the nearest DDM or Casa da Mulher Brasileira.
if the deadline has passed
A closed case is not the same as no record.
If the period above has run out where you are, a prosecution may no longer be possible. That is the plain truth and we will not dress it up. 3 things are still open to you.
a timestamped report
What you write here is dated and kept. Years later, a record that existed before anyone asked for it carries weight a memory does not.
a sealed report that can match
Seal it against an identifier — a profile link, a phone, a workplace. Nobody sees it until someone else names the same person. Their case may still be inside the deadline.
a pin on the map
Publish it and the next person searching São Paulo can see it. He stays an alias unless a court, the police or the press have already published his name.
Many countries also treat the clock differently when the survivor was a child, when the offence is ongoing, or when new evidence appears. A support organisation in this list can tell you whether that applies to you.
who can tell you today
People in São Paulo who do this every day.
These are independent of Escrow. They know how the deadline is read in practice where you are, and they can also just talk.
sources
The deadline above came from one of these.
- Ligue 180 - Central de Atendimento à Mulher
Ministério das Mulheres, Governo do Brasil · checked 27 August 2026
- Delegacias de Defesa da Mulher
Prefeitura de São Paulo · checked 27 August 2026
- Profilaxia Pós-Exposição (PEP)
Prefeitura de São Paulo - Secretaria da Saúde · checked 27 August 2026
- Prescrição de crime sexual contra criança foi ampliada
Conselho Nacional de Justiça (CNJ) · checked 27 August 2026
other places
The deadline somewhere else.
If you were somewhere else in Brazil, read the deadline for Brazil. It covers the towns we have not written up yet.
This is information, not legal advice.
Nobody here is your lawyer. The deadline above is quoted from a source we read, and the date we read it is beside it. Laws change, and an office may read a deadline differently from the statute. For your own case, ask a lawyer or a support organisation in São Paulo.
If something here is out of date, write to hello@escrow.nanocorp.app and we will check it and say when we did.
when you are ready
There is no deadline for writing it down here. A report on Escrow can be made years afterwards, and nothing happens until you say so.
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