With a lot of people on EC who are before the age of majority, I have a question since people discuss having sex in legal terms on here sometimes. If two people are in their junior or senior year of high school, one is 18 yrs-4 months of age and other is 17 yrs-10 months of age, and they have consensual sex, is that a crime? In many situations like this, the person who is almost 18 knows darn well what they are doing, what the physical and emotional implications are, and may even be the one egging on the 18+ year old. What is the standard here? Again, is it automatically a crime? (I'm thinking it would be someone who became embittered, changed their mind, or had their parents enraged who would push this button). Does it depend on the level of consent and maturity? Does it differ by where one is located?
Can't speak for everywhere, but in many parts of the US, there's a flexible window of 2 to 3 years. So, for example, a 16 year old and a 19 year old having sex wouldn't be legally actionable, but a 16 and 20 year old would be (or a 15 and 19 year old). That's a relatively recent development that's recognized the problems with having hard-and-fast rules. Generally, in those states, there's still a minimum age (often 16, sometimes 14 or 15) where having sex with anyone older, even by a year, would be considered a crime. Also, the majority of the cases where someone's prosecuted for a close-to-the-same-age offense happen when parents or teachers get involved, or where there's an ugly breakup. Police generally don't go looking for them. It's a challenging issue to come up with consistent policy because people mature at such different rates. There are plenty of 20 year olds, and some 30 year olds as well who are in no way emotionally mature enough to make intelligent decisions about having sex... and there are also plenty of 15 or 16 year olds who are exceptionally mature and capable of making an intelligent and informed decision. So the 18-as-an-adult is a compromise, and the flexible dating laws try to anticipate the flexible level of maturity. All are fraught with imperfections, but I personally can't think of any better solution.
Based on what I've seen on various lists of age of consent (for sex), it's usually around 16 or 17. This is lower than the age for being an adult, the age of majority, which is often 18. So, in this case, it's unlikely to be an issue unless you're in one of the few locations using 18 for the age of consent. As Chip said, they also consider the age gap. If it's only a couple of years, it's unlikely that they'd go for statutory rape charges. (In the US) In some areas, it's different ages for same-sex sex.
I don't believe the scenario you give would be a crime anywhere. There's also "romeo and juliet" laws in various states, where 18 with 14 year old is a slap on the wrist.
It varies by State to State, I'd advise looking up your State's penal code to see the specifics for your State.
I think in FL we have the "2 year" law, where an 18 yr. old can get with a 16 yr. old, and likewise for 19 and 17.
It really depends on where you're from. When I was 16, I dated a 24-year-old woman. In Alabama, the age of consent is 16, so there was nothing illegal going on. However, had we been in a state where the age of consent is 18+, then it would have been illegal. In the situation that you posted, it may or may not be seen as an issue. I think it truly depends on the situation, the judge, and the lawyer, if the matter were to be taken further. In my opinion, I don't think it should be a problem at all. 17-year-olds can watch/buy/rent rated R movies for a reason. >_>
Depends, here (Victoria, Australia) you can legally have sex but it must be less than 2 years age difference. So 10 and 11 and 11 months is fine but not 10 and 12. Once you turn 16 you can do whoever you want to as long as it's not rape, inncest or a teacher. So 16 and 100 would be still legal...
What about when a 16 or 17 year old makes themselves available and pushes the situation with someone who is more than a handful of years older than they are? Again, situational or geography dictated? A 17 year old guy or girl could be nuts over a 30 year old and pursue them. If this person on the cusp of adulthood did the legwork, that's fairly studied and clear. And if it's same sex or didn't result in pregnancy, nor an STI for either case, what would the issue be?
To my knowledge, only 12 states in the US have the age of consent set to 18 so the rules are a bit different in the majority of the US. In most states, the age of consent is 16. If an adult has sex with someone a year or two under that age of consent (14 to 15) I believe that the state would prosecute and the 30 year old would be in jail. I'll focus on the 12 states for this post though. I believe that it is dictated by geography. Different states treat this matter differently. It looks like Wisconsin has a specific law for what you're talking about. In Wisconsin, the adult will get less jail time if the minor is 16 or older. If the minor is not 16, then the crime is a Class C felony instead of a Class A misdemeanor. It doesn't look like California has the same rule as Wisconsin written into their laws. It looks like they can prosecute in CA if the state chooses to do so. In California, the law is The 30 year old may get off easy or they may not. I'm not saying that the 30 year old will be prosecuted. I'm just saying that they can be prosecuted. It really depends on what the police and state decide to do about it. To answer your last question, the legal issue is that the older individual is having sex with someone that cannot legally consent to sex. Under the law, sex without consent is generally considered some type of sexual assault/statutory rape/unlawful sex/sexual misconduct/sexual abuse (the exact language depends on which state we're talking about)
