are people charged for the age they commit the crime even if its years later?

Depends upon the nature of the crime and the age of the child at the time the crime was committed. Some children are tried as adults. Some crimes don't have a statute of limitations; e.g. murder and kidnapping.

The answer to your question is YES.

What happens depends on BOTH the jurisdiction, AND the crime. In some cases, they couldn't be prosecuted after 4 years, even if they were a legal adult at the time of the crime. In others, they would still be tried and sentenced as if they were a juvenile, and they could be held by the juvenile system up to age 25. In still others, they could have been tried as an adult at 14, and will still be tried as such.

A really good case for you to look into is that of Michael Skakel. He was accused of killing a girl named Martha Moxley back when he was in high school, many years earlier. The case had gone unsolved for a long, long time. It also got a lot of coverage because Skakel is related to the Kennedy family.

The question arose, should be be tried as a juvenile or an adult? Not only was he a juvenile when the crime was committed, but laws back when the murder happened protected juvenile defendants to a greater extent than the laws when he was charged. On the other hand ... treating a 39-year-old man as a juvenile?

In the end it was decided he should be tried as an adult.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=96114&page=1

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=94243&page=1

http://federalism.typepad.com/crime_federalism/200...

Yes. Your age at the time of the crime determines your criminal intent and your capacity to plan the crime, doing it deliberately and knowingly.

If it is a felony and they are charged as an adult that has no statute of limitations,

Yes, people are charged based upon their age at the time of the infraction, and the laws that were current at the time.