Statutory rape is when someone has sex with someone who is under that state’s age of consent. It’s illegal, even if both people say they wanted to have sex. To find out more about age of consent laws for your state, check out Sex in the States.
The idea behind these laws is that children and teens under a certain age may be too young to decide for themselves whether to have sex. Also, the laws protect young people from older teens and adults who might force or manipulate young people into doing sexual things.
Statutory rape can include sexual intercourse or other types of sexual contact. It can happen between people of the same or different sexes. Also, the older person can go to jail for doing it, regardless of whether their sex or whether the younger person agreed to have sex.
