In short
Act 55 of 2026 added a new subsection (b) to Article 87 of Act No. 146-2012, the Penal Code of Puerto Rico, and renumbered the existing subsections. The article, as it now reads, provides that criminal prosecution prescribes: at five years for felonies and for felonies classified in special legislation; at ten years for aggravated illegal appropriation, fraud and money laundering when the amount reaches five hundred thousand dollars or more; at one year for misdemeanours, except those arising from tax-law infractions and every misdemeanour committed by public officials or employees in the performance of their duties, which prescribe at five years; at ten years for concealment and conspiracy when committed in relation to murder; at ten years for homicide; and at twenty years for sexual assault, incest and lascivious acts. The provisions of subsections (a), (b) and (c) do not apply to special legislation whose offences carry a longer prescriptive period. The same law set at ten years the prescription of the offences in Articles 9.05 and 9.06 of Act No. 255-2002, on cooperatives, and provided that no proceeding under Article 409 of Act No. 60 of 18 June 1963 may be brought after ten years have elapsed from the alleged violation.
What is it?
Prescription of criminal prosecution is the time the State has to prosecute an offence. Once that term passes, the action prescribes. Article 87 of the Penal Code is where the terms live, and Act 55-2026 rewrote it to add a new line: ten years when aggravated illegal appropriation, fraud or money laundering involve five hundred thousand dollars or more.
Who can do it?
This guide is informational and applies to anyone who needs to know the criminal prescription terms in Puerto Rico: someone considering filing a complaint, someone under investigation, or someone accompanying a victim. It is not a procedure and there is nothing to apply for.
Requirements
- There are no requirements: prescription operates through the passage of time, not through anyone’s application.Verified against the official source
Documents you need
Cost
Step by step
Step 1: Five years: felonies
Subsection (a) provides that criminal prosecution prescribes at five years for felonies, and for felonies classified in special legislation. It is the general term for serious offences, and the one the exceptions that follow come out of.
Step 2: Ten years: fraud, laundering and appropriation of $500,000 or more
This is the new subsection, (b), that Act 55-2026 added: at ten years for aggravated illegal appropriation, fraud and money laundering, when the amount reaches five hundred thousand dollars or more. The amount is the condition: below that figure the line does not apply.
Step 3: One year: misdemeanours, with two five-year exceptions
Subsection (c) provides that prosecution prescribes at one year for misdemeanours, except those arising from tax-law infractions and every misdemeanour committed by public officials or employees in the performance of their duties, which prescribe at five years.
Step 4: Ten years: concealment and conspiracy tied to murder, and homicide
Subsection (d) provides that concealment and conspiracy prescribe at ten years when committed in relation to the offence of murder. Subsection (e) sets ten years for homicide.
Step 5: Twenty years: sexual assault, incest and lascivious acts
Subsection (f) provides that prosecution prescribes at twenty years for sexual assault, incest and lascivious acts. It is the longest term in the table. This guide does not explain when that term starts to run, because that is not in Act 55-2026 and we did not read the rest of the Penal Code.
Step 6: The clause that preserves longer special-law terms
The article itself closes by saying that the provisions of subsections (a), (b) and (c) do not apply to special legislation whose offences carry a prescriptive period longer than the one proposed there. That is: if a special law gives more time, the longer term stands.
Step 7: Cooperatives and securities: ten years too
The same law added to Articles 9.05 and 9.06 of Act No. 255-2002 the sentence that prosecution for the offences provided there prescribes at ten years. Article 9.05 punishes with a fixed six-year term of imprisonment members of the Board, of the committees, executive officers, employees or agents of a cooperative; Article 9.06, offences against cooperative funds, with a fixed eight-year term. And into Article 409 of Act No. 60 of 18 June 1963 was written that no proceeding may be brought after ten years have elapsed from the alleged violation.
Where to do it
Not applicable: prescription is not applied for. A complaint is filed with the Puerto Rico Police or the Department of Justice, and the decision to file charges belongs to the prosecution.
How long it takes
What to do if something goes wrong
This guide reproduces Article 87 of the Penal Code as Act 55-2026 left it, and the three amendments to special legislation the same law made. That is everything we read. We did not read the rest of Act 146-2012, so this guide does not say when the term starts counting, what interrupts it, or how any of those offences is defined: those are central questions and we cannot answer them from this source. Nor did we read the rest of Act 255-2002 or Act 60-1963. If you are deciding whether you are still in time, speak with a lawyer or with the Department of Justice: prescription has computation rules that are not in this law. PRFácil does not give legal advice or file complaints.
Common mistakes
- Counting the term backwards from today without knowing when it starts: the computation rule is not in this law and this guide does not invent it.
- Applying the ten-year line to any fraud: subsection (b) requires the amount to reach five hundred thousand dollars or more.
- Assuming every misdemeanour prescribes at one year: tax-law infractions and misdemeanours by public officials or employees in the performance of their duties prescribe at five.
- Forgetting the closing clause: if special legislation provides a longer prescriptive period, that is the one that applies.
- Confusing this with the prescription of a civil debt, which follows different rules.
Frequently asked questions
How long is there to prosecute a sexual assault?
Subsection (f) of Article 87 provides that prosecution prescribes at twenty years for sexual assault, incest and lascivious acts. When that term starts running is not in Act 55-2026 and we do not assert it here; if you are assessing your case, consult a lawyer or the Department of Justice.
What exactly did Act 55-2026 change?
It added a new subsection (b) to Article 87 — ten years for aggravated illegal appropriation, fraud and money laundering when the amount is five hundred thousand dollars or more — and renumbered the subsections that already existed. It also set at ten years the prescription of the offences in Articles 9.05 and 9.06 of Act 255-2002 and in Article 409 of Act 60 of 1963.
If the fraud was for less than $500,000, what is the term?
Subsection (b) covers only cases of five hundred thousand dollars or more. Outside that line, the term depends on how the offence is classified: five years if it is a felony under subsection (a), one year if a misdemeanour under subsection (c), and the closing clause preserves any special law with a longer period. The classification of a specific offence is not in this law.
Is this the same as the prescription of a debt?
No. This is the prescription of criminal prosecution: the time the State has to prosecute an offence. The prescription of a debt is civil and follows different rules; we have a separate guide on that.
Official sources
These are the government pages this guide is based on.
- Departamento de Justicia de Puerto Rico
Justicia
bvirtualogp.pr.gov
Last verified
August 27, 2026
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