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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 204 Filed 04/16/21 Page 51 of 239

In the alternative, Maxwell argues that Section 3283 is inapplicable because the offenses charged in the Indictment do not “involv[e] the sexual or physical abuse . . . of a child.” (Def. Mot. 2 at 12-14). Yet her argument runs contrary to the weight of authority that has adopted the common-sense view that crimes that necessarily entail the sexual or physical abuse of children “involv[e] the sexual or physical abuse of a child.” This Court should do the same and deny the motion.

A. Statutory Background

Between 1990 and 2006, Congress passed a series of laws that expanded the statute of limitations for prosecutions of crimes against minors, ultimately extending the statute of limitations to the lifetime of the minor victim and, for certain offenses, eliminating the statute of limitations entirely. These laws reflect a virtually unbroken congressional policy that the default five-year statute of limitations for federal crimes, 18 U.S.C. § 3282, is inadequate for such offenses. An extended statute of limitations is necessary because “child sex abuse offenses . . . may be difficult to detect quickly,” in part because children often first report their abuse long after it occurs. Weingarten v. United States, 865 F.3d 48, 54 (2d Cir. 2017) (citing, e.g., David McCord, Expert Psychological Testimony About Child Complainants in Sexual Abuse Prosecutions, 77 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 1, 60-61 (1986)).

In 1990, Congress enacted a new statute of limitation for certain crimes against children, which stated: “No statute of limitation that would otherwise preclude prosecution for an offense involving the sexual or physical abuse of a child under the age of 18 years shall preclude such a prosecution before the child reaches the age of 25 years.” Crime Control Act of 1990, Pub. L. No. 101-647, tit. II, § 225(a), 104 Stat. 4789, 4798 (codified at 18 U.S.C. § 3509(k) (1990)). In 1994, Congress re-codified this provision, moving it to 18 U.S.C. § 3283 with identical language.

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