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 the United States?
Probably not.
What we have read for the United States says a report is accepted long after the day it happened. The full wording is below, with the source. Years late is still a report.
Checked against official sources on 28 August 2026.
the deadline in the United States, quoted in full
Statutes of limitations for sexual assault vary significantly by state. Some states have no limitation period for felony rape or sexual assault. Others set periods ranging from a few years to several decades, sometimes with extensions for DNA evidence or for offences against minors. Check the law of the state where the assault occurred, or ask RAINN's hotline.
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 the United States
A SANE forensic exam is usually available at a hospital emergency department. Go as soon as possible, since evidence collection is generally most effective within 72 to 120 hours. Some evidence can still be found later.
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 the United States
You can report to your local police department. In many places you can also go to a hospital with a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) programme. It can carry out a forensic exam and preserve evidence. You do not have to have decided whether to file a police report. Students can also report through a school or university Title IX office. RAINN's National Sexual Assault Hotline (call or online chat) can talk you through local reporting options confidentially before you decide.
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 United States 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 the United States 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.
RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) National Sexual Assault Hotline
National Domestic Violence Hotline
Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice
sources
The deadline above came from one of these.
- National Sexual Assault Hotline
RAINN · checked 28 August 2026
- Resources for Victims and Survivors
U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women · checked 28 August 2026
- Statutes of Limitation in Sexual Assault Cases
FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin · checked 28 August 2026
other places
The deadline somewhere else.
- Is it too late in Atlanta?
- Is it too late in Boston?
- Is it too late in Chicago?
- Is it too late in Denver?
- Is it too late in Houston?
- Is it too late in Los Angeles?
- Is it too late in Miami?
- Is it too late in New York City?
- Is it too late in Australia?
- Is it too late in Bangladesh?
- Is it too late in Brazil?
- Is it too late in Canada?
- Is it too late in Colombia?
- Is it too late in Egypt?
- Is it too late in India?
- Is it too late in Indonesia?
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 the United States.
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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