INDIANAPOLIS – The Senate could vote next week on loosening the statute of limitations for child molesting. Activists for abuse survivors say the plan doesn’t go far enough.

For most felonies, prosecutors have to file charges within five years. Child molesting is a special case: the clock runs until the victim turns 31. Advocates say it should be like murder, where there’s no time limit.

Camille Cooper with the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network argues the specific lengths of statutes of limitations vary from state to state because they’re arbitrary to begin with. In cases of rape and child molesting, she says it often takes years for women to come to grips with what happened and to accept that it’s okay to come forward. She says even the age-31 limit often isn’t enough.

Greenfield Republican Mike Crider introduced a bill to eliminate the time limit for both child molesting and rape. But Senate Criminal Law Chairman Mike Young (R-Indianapolis) says a full abolition doesn’t have the votes to pass. He says several senators are concerned about the very reasons that led to statutes of limitations in the first place: the difficulty of establishing alibis or other evidence to contradict a rape charge which comes years after the fact.

Instead, the committee unanimously recommended the same change Indiana made to rape laws five years ago: the clock restarts if there’s D-N-A evidence or the abuser confesses, to police or in a recorded statement.

13 states have eliminated the statute of limitations for rape and child molesting, while seven have done so for child molesting only. Two states lift the statute of limitations if and only if D-N-A evidence comes to light.

All but five states have at least limited exceptions to the statute of limitations. Indiana, for instance, not only has the D-N-A and confession exemptions, but sets no time limit for the most serious offenses, such as assaults while armed with a deadly weapon.