<<No, MT, I'm not saying chasing Nazis even after sixty years insn't justifiable, I m simply aksing if they are parallel?>>
Well, philosophically, Professor, I guess you're pointing out the competition in legitimate values between the need for a statute of limitations or its equivalent on the one hand and the need to see justice done on the other. I think both situations are in fact parallel in that they illustrate the clash between two legitimate values. The magnitude of the offence is obviously a big factor in determining how far to stretch the statute of limitations, I would think. You'd be kind of pissed off to receive a notice to appear in court on some overtime parking charge that goes back 23 years, but if the Cold Case Squad busted some guy for the murder of some high school girls that occurred thirty years ago, it probably wouldn't raise anyone's hackles, except maybe the perp's.