As you can see in the North Carolina example, age of consent laws become complicated depending on the state laws in place. For this reason, brief reviews for eight other states are included below. Under section 1310, there are positive defences for the offences described in sections 1306 to 1309 for consensual activities between legal spouses and for cases where the defendant reasonably believed that a minor 13 years of age or older was of age. The Texas Department of Public Safety, the state`s law enforcement agency, considers the age of consent to be 18. [86] In a Texas court decision, Ex parte Fujisaka, it was argued that these two laws, which set different age limits below which a sexual act can be considered a criminal offense, should be treated independently. [87] Section 21.12 Inappropriate Educator-Student Relationship prohibits sexual contact between an employee of a school (including educators)],[209][210][211][212] and a student enrolled in the elementary or secondary school or school district where the employee works (unless the student is the employee`s spouse). The law does not stipulate an age (even if the student has reached the age of consent, it is still a violation), and violations are a second-degree felony. Persons convicted under Article 21.12. are not required to register as sex offenders. The law exists to prevent scenarios in which a teacher or employee forces a student to have sex in exchange for higher grades or other favors. [213] or (2) the victim was between 13 and 15 years of age and the perpetrator was more than four years older. (All other conditions for simple sexual assault do not affect the age of consent in New Jersey.) Another populous state, the Texas Statutory Rape Act, is violated when a person has consensual sex with a person under the age of 17.
While there is no near-age exception, there are possible defences if the perpetrator is no more than three years older than the victim and is of the opposite sex. Sexual intercourse between a school employee and a student is prohibited unless they are married. In the particular case of a school employee and a student who has had sexual intercourse, no age of consent is given. In Panama, the age of consent is generally 18, although sexual conduct with children between the ages of 14 and 18 is not always illegal. [41] The age of consent in Maine is 16. Adolescents between the ages of 14 and 15 can have sex with partners younger than 5 years of age. Ohio`s rape law is violated when a person has consensual sex with someone they are not married to until age 16. There is an age-related exemption that allows minors aged 13 and over to consent to a partner under the age of 18.
10 In some cases, a state`s laws on sexual intercourse do not coincide with one or more of its laws on other types of sexual acts. For example, in South Dakota, sexual penetration with a person between the ages of 10 and 16 is illegal unless the defendant is less than 3 years older than the victim. However, sexual interference with a person under the age of 16 is illegal, regardless of the age of the defendant (in State v. Darby, 556 N.W.2d 311, 127 (SD 1996), the South Dakota Supreme Court held that these two offenses may be mutually exclusive). These cases are identified in the corresponding situation summaries. § 11-37-6 Third-degree sexual assault. – A person is guilty of third-degree sexual assault if over eighteen (18) years of age and sexual penetration with another person over fourteen (14) years of age and under the age of consent (sixteen (16) years of age). [197] § 11-37-8.1 Sexual assault on abuse of a child in the first degree. A person is guilty of first-degree sexual assault if he or she commits sexual penetration with a person under the age of fourteen (14). [198] Paragraph 43.25(b) The performance of sexual activity by a minor makes it an offence to commit, authorize or cause a child under the age of 18 to engage in or engage in sexual conduct without the need to engage in it. [85] A parent, guardian or guardian of a child under the age of 18 commits a criminal offence if he or she consents to the child`s participation in a gender performance. If incitement is an element of paragraph 43.25(b), there need not be a threat, promise to pay or other specific inducement, or even verbal belief, for incitement to be proven.