Age of Consent: What Are Age Of Consent Laws
The age of consent is considered the legal age in which a person can consent to a sexual activity. In some certain cases, it even refers to a defined age in which a person is mature enough to consent to marriage. The age of consent may vary accordingly to a country’s laws. As USLEGAL writes, in most of the places, the age of consent is generally considered 16 to 18 years old.
Sexual intercourse with a person who is not competent to consent might lead to Statutory rape law. An individual violates the law when he/she has sexual activity with a minor person. In this case, the minor is considered the victim, whereas the person who is 18 or over 18 is the offender. Despite that the sexual activity with a person under the age of consent might be voluntary, the person above 18 can’t use it as a defense, Educaloi writes. Also, a standard sentence of 6 to a maximum of 15 years imprisonment is foreseen for sexual offenders. However, Victorian law (Australia) stands that a person between 12 to 16 years can consent to sex with a person, not more than 2 years older. Whereas, a 12-year-old person cannot consent to sex with anyone.
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Definition of Statutory Rape
Merriam Webster dictionary defines statutory rape as “sexual intercourse with a person who is below the statutory age of consent”. According to Find law, statutory rape is different from other types of rape in that the act would not be considered a crime if individuals were above the age of consent. However, whether voluntary or with the use of force, the act of having sexual activity with an underage is considered a crime. Different states use different names to refer to this crime and set a different age of consent. Many states don’t permit the defense of what the offender believed the victim’s age to be. Whereas even in the states where this it is allowed, if a victim is under the age of 14, it cannot be used as a defense.
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Romeo and Juliet laws
Legal Dictionary defines this law: “Provisions of statutory laws in some states that pertain to individuals under the age of consent who engage in sexual intercourse, when there is a minor age difference.” The age difference varies by state but it is usually not more than five years difference. Also, there are some states that don’t have a close in age exemption or Romeo and Juliet law, whereas those states that adopted it, typically try in many cases to reduce or eliminate the statutory rape penalty. So, the hallmark of Romeo and Juliet laws is to address the issue of consensual sex between teens and young adults.
Other Age Of Consent Exceptions
Another common exemption is the marriage exemption. In some places, if the partners are married, the younger party may consent only to their spouse. Sometimes the ages of both partners, in addition to the severity of the crime can help determine the severity of the punishment. The severity of the crime can also depend on the position or authority that the older party has over the younger- a teacher, parent, step-parent, guardian, government worker or any other similarly authorized person may mean a more extreme punishment for the offender, and can sometimes cause the age of consent to rise.
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Examples of different state’s statutory ages of consent:
New York – The age of consent is 17. It is illegal for anyone to have sex with someone under the age of 17.
Texas -The age of consent is 17. The minimum age is 14 with an age differential of 3 years; thus, those who are at least 14 years of age can legally have sex with those less than 3 years older.
California – The age of consent in California is 18. It is illegal for anyone to engage in sexual intercourse with a minor (someone under the age of 18)unless they are that person’s spouse. California employs a layered system where the greater the difference in age, the greater the penalty. Those over the age of 21 engaging in sex with those under 16 are subjected to more harsh penalties.
Florida – The age of consent in Florida is 18. It is illegal for anyone over the age of 24 to have sex with anyone under the age of 18 unless they are that person’s spouse.
Illinois – The age of consent in Illinois is 17. For people 18 or over, it is illegal for them to commit acts of a sexual nature on persons who are under the age of 18 if they are in a position of authority or trust over the victim. This effectively raises the age of consent for older people in positions of authority or trust to 18 years old.
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