criminal-law england-and-wales statute-of-limitations prosecution
Why is there no limitations period on indictable offences?
<p>In England, it seems one can be charged with an indictable or either-way offence 70 years after the fact.</p>
<p>Is it not so that in most places this is not the case?</p>
<p>And what are the stated justifications for having no limitations period for these offences?</p>

<h2>You have your reasoning backwards</h2>
<p>In most jurisdictions, most serious crimes are not subject to a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statute_of_limitations" rel="nofollow noreferrer">statute of limitations</a> or have periods so long that for all practical purposes they might as well be. However, less serious crimes usually do have limitation periods that are meaningful. Sometimes they are broken into two categories, as in the UK, sometimes several categories with different periods, as in Germany.</p>
<p>See <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/49941/why-do-statutes-of-limitations-exist/49947#49947">Why do statutes of limitations exist?</a> for reasons why limitations exist. I’m sure you can see why it might be appropriate to have different limits for crimes of different seriousness - littering is in a different category of heinous to murder.</p>
