Age of consent
From YRN
The term 'age of consent' usually refers to the age of sexual consent. The age of consent is the age at which a person gains the legal right to have consensual sex with anyone. A person that has sex, or other 'sexual contact' with a person, in violation of age of consent laws, has done what is commonly called 'statutory rape', although the term 'statutory rape' does not appear in legal texts.
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In the U.S.
The age of consent in the U.S. is set by the respective states. The ages currently in place range from 16 to 18, as seen in this map.
Close-in-age exemptions
Some states have created a limited exception to their ages of consent, in which sex under the age of consent is not criminal if the partners' ages are close to one another.
In addition to general age of consent laws, there are also sometimes laws called 'close-in-age exemptions', also called 'close-in-age exceptions'. A close-in-age exemption is a law that allows certain people that are under the age of consent to have sex with people that are of an age similar to their own. Some close-in-age exemption laws likewise have a minimum age, an 'age of consent for sex with people of one's own age', and some close-in-age exemption laws do not have such a minimum age. Close-in-age exemption laws allow a certain age distance between the sex participants, and that age distance varies between different laws. That age distance is usually a certain number of years.
Weaknesses
The Supreme Court has held that the right of "adult persons" to engage in private sexual conduct is part of the right to privacy protected by the 4th Amendment, and that this liberty constitutes a fundamental right protected against the states by the 14th Amendment. A legal argument could be made that most age-of-consent laws are unconstitutional by this standard because a significant number of people below the age of consent are both physically and mentally mature enough to consent to the act, thereby sufficing as "adult" enough for purposes of that right.
In Canada
In Canada, the age of consent is 16. There is a close-in-age exemption for people aged 12-15. People aged 14-15 are allowed to have sex with people up to 5 years older than themself, and people aged 12-13 are allowed to have sex with people up to 2 years older than themself.
In other countries
Throughout the world, the age of consent ranges from age 13 (as in Spain and South Korea) to age 21 (as in Madagascar). In most countries, the age of consent ranges from 14 to 18.
In many countries, and in many states of the United States, the age of consent for males and the age of consent for females are different. In such cases it is usually the age of consent for females that is higher. The higher age of consent for females is the result of fathers, who are more dominant-territorial about their daughters than about their sons.
In addition to general age of consent laws, which usually apply to heterosexual sex, many countries have age of consent laws for homosexual sex in which the age of consent differs from that of heterosexual sex. Some states of the United States had ages of consent for homosexual sex that differed from the age for heterosexual sex, but such laws were invalidated by the Supreme Court.
