Although civil law claims are subject to some temporal constraints, when it comes to criminal offences there is generally no limitation to prosecution and trial. The question of whether such time limitations should be available in the criminal law has become particularly topical in light of the large number of crimes, mainly historic sexual offences and particularly against children, alleged, and in some cases proven in court. Are there good reasons to still prosecute in such circumstances or do crimes ever go too stale? Should they be dealt with in alternative truth-finding procedures such as the, so far ill-fated, Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse?

Antje du Bois-Pedain is Senior Lecturer and Deputy Director of the Centre for Penal Theory and Penal Ethics, University of Cambridge.

Richard Scorer (@Richard_Scorer) is Head of the Abuse Team at Slater and Gordon Lawyers in Manchester.

Phil Scraton is Professor of Criminology, School of Law, Queen's University Belfast and Head of Research on the Hillsborough Independent Panel, principal author of its definitive Report and author of Hillsborough: The Truth.

Emmanuel Melissaris (@EMelissaris) is Associate Professor of Law, LSE Law. He writes and teaches on legal and political philosophy and criminal law.

LSE Law (@lselaw) is an integral part of the School's mission, plays a major role in policy debates & in the education of lawyers and law teachers from around the world.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEstalecrimes

Podcast & Video

A podcast and video of this event is available to download from "Stale" Crimes

Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.