The “Age of Consent” in California – 18 Years Old (2024)

What is the age of consent in California?

In California, a person must be at least 18 years of age to belegally capable of consenting to have sex. This means that it is illegal to have sex with a minor under 18, even if the minor is a willing participant and even if the minor initiates the sexual activity.

Here are three key things to know:

1. Having consensual sex with a minor in California is generally prosecuted as statutory rape under Penal Code 261.5 PC.
2. Statutory rape can be a misdemeanor carrying up to 1 year in jail or a felony carrying up to 4 years in jail depending on the parties’ ages.
3. California has no Romeo and Juliet exception allowing for consensual sex between close-in-age minors and adults.

Our California criminal defense attorneys will address the following in this article:

• 1. The Age of Consent – 18 Years Old
• 2. Statutory Rape
• 3. Sex Offender Registration
• 4. No “Romeo and Juliet” Law in California
• 5. Exception for Married Persons
• 6. Dating Minors
• 7. Defenses to Statutory Rape
• 8. Related offenses and penalties
• Additional resources

1. The Age of Consent – 18 Years Old

18 years of age. Under California law, a person must be at least 18 years old to legally consent to sex. People who have sexual intercourse with a minor face criminal charges, typically forstatutory rape, per Penal Code 261.5.

“Sexual intercourse” means any sexual penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagin* (“vagin*l intercourse”) or genitalia by the penis. ejacul*tion is not required.¹

Age of consent laws are meant todeter adults from seeking out underage sex partners who are not mature enoughto make intelligent and informed decisions regarding the physical and emotional risks of having sex.

The age of consent varies state by state from 16 to 18 years of age across the U.S.

2. Statutory Rape

Under CaliforniaPenal Code 261.5 PC, a “statutory rape”takes place when any person engages in sexual intercourse with a personunder the age of 18.² Statutory rape is also called

• unlawful sex with a minor or
• unlawful sexual intercourse.

Statutory rape is a crime regardless of whether the sex was consensual or initiated by the minor (the supposed “victim” of the crime).³

Statutory rape is a California “wobbler” offense, which means it can be prosecuted as either a misdemeanor or a felony depending on the parties’ ages.⁴

3. Sex Offender Registration

A statutory rape charge, or a conviction of the same, does not require sex offender registration under California Penal Code 290 PC.⁵

Certain related offenses, though, do require the defendant to be on the sex offender registry, including:

• rape, per Penal Code 261, and
• lewd acts with a child, per Penal Code 288.

Now with the passing of California Senate Bill 145 (2020), judges may waive the sex registration requirement for certain defendants convicted under the following Penal Code subsections if the child was a 14-year-old (or older) and within 10 years of age of the defendant:

1. PC 286(b) – sodomy
2. PC 287(b) – oral copulation of a child
3. PC 289(h) or (i) – penetration by a foreign object

SB 145 is geared toward close-in-age LGBT youth who have consensual oral sex or anal sex. Opponents of the new law claim it promotes pedophilia and sexual abuse.

4. No “Romeo and Juliet” Law in California

Californiadoes not have a Romeo and Juliet law. “Romeo and Juliet” laws are also referred to as “close in age exemptions.” The laws prevent the prosecution of young people who engage in consensual sex acts when:

• both parties are very close in age to one another, and
• both are below the age of consent.

An example here is when two people engage in consensual sex and both are 17 years old, or one is 16 years old and the other is 17.

Since there isno Rome and Juliet law in California, it is possible for two people, both under the age of 18, to be prosecuted for statutory rape if they engage in sexual intercourse.

5. Exception for Married Persons

There is one exception where a minorcanhave sexual intercourse with an adult. This is when the two parties are married.

Penal Code 261.5astates:

“Unlawful sexual intercourse is an act of sexual intercourse accomplished with a person who isnot the spouse of the perpetrator, if the person is a minor.”

Note that California is one of just a few states thatdoes not have a minimum age for marriage. If a minor decides to marry, however, that person must obtain parental consent and a court order prior to the marriage.

6. Dating Minors

While it generally is legal for an adult to date a minor, an adult may not do any of the following with the minor:

• have sex,
• purchase for or share alcohol or cigarettes,
• bring the minor to an R-rated movie, and
• show any p*rnography.

7. Defenses to Statutory Rape

In our experience, from representing thousands of people facing sex crime charges, there are four effective legal defenses to accusations of statutory rape. These are:

1. The defendant was falsely accused – Perhaps the alleged victim misidentified the defendant or lied.
2. No one was under 18 – The parties that engaged in sexual intercourse were at the age of consent or older.
3. No sexual intercourse occurred – While two persons under 18 may have had an intimate encounter, they did not engage in “sexual intercourse.”
4. The defendant had a good faith belief the child was an adult – This defense works in statutory rape cases but not lewd and lascivious conduct cases.⁶

Note that consent is not a defense to statutory rape allegations.⁷

In any case, the district attorney has the burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. As long as prosecutors fail to meet this burden, the charge should be dismissed.

8. Related offenses and penalties

There are several offenses in addition to statutory rape that criminalize sex acts with someone under the age of consent:

Additional resources

For more in-depth information on the age of consent, refer to these scholarly articles:

• Teenage Sex in California: Thirteen Years after Michael M. – Journal of Juvenile Law.
• Romeo and Juliet Were Sex Offenders: An Analysis of the Age of Consent and a Call for Reform – University of Missouri-Kansas City Law Review.
• The Age of Consent – Yale Law Journal.
• You Can Touch, But You Can’t Look: Examining the Inconsistencies in Our Age of Consent and Child p*rnography Laws – Southern California Law Review.
• A Bee Line in the Wrong Direction: Science, Teenagers, and the Sting to the Age of Consent – Journal of Law and Politics.

Legal References: