What is the Age of Consent in North Carolina?
In North Carolina, the legal age of consent is sixteen years old. The law requires that the two parties involved be of the legal age of consent, or there is a possibility of incarceration, fines, or both.
The North Carolina legal age of consent describes the minimum age for which an individual is deemed capable of consenting to sexual activity. Generally, this means that a person who is under the legal age of consent is not legally able to authorize another individual to engage with them in sexual conduct. Under state law, a person at least sixteen years of age may consent to sex.
Section 14-190.8 of the North Carolina General Statute covers sexual offenses against minors under the age of sixteen. Under the age of consent, a person who "persuades, entices, offers, solicits, gives, supplies, provides or otherwise agrees to provide any child" less than sixteen years old with "any controlled substance" may face a Class G felony charge. Further, a defendant is guilty of a Class H felony if they "persuade, entice, offers, solicits, gives, supplies, provides or otherwise agrees to provide any sexual activity with or to another person" less than sixteen years old .
Penalties associated with a Class H or Class G felony charge often include imprisonment in a state prison, and/or hefty fines that may be levied against an offender. An offense may cause a person to be listed on a registry of sexual offenders, which significantly impacts various social activities. In some cases, incarceration time can stretch for months to more than a year, depending on whether or not the person is a repeat offender.
In June of 2011, the legal age of consent was modified. The change in this law established that a person may not be found guilty of statutory rape if "the defendant and the victim are at least four years apart in age at the time of the offense" and "the defendant did not use or display a dangerous weapon or an object that appears to be a dangerous weapon" and "the defendant did not engage in a kidnapping or a trafficking offense" and "the defendant and the victim [are] over the age of sixteen."
Historical Background on the Age of Consent in North Carolina
Until the early 1970s, the age of consent in North Carolina was 14. However, the North Carolina General Assembly increased the age of consent to 16 for both males and females when it enacted the Rape Law Reform Act in 1977. In the same act, the legislature also created the crime of sexual offense in order to modernize the law. The difference between rape and sexual offense is that a conviction for rape requires some form of penetration while a conviction for sexual offense does not. The North Carolina age for consent was equalized for males and females, and increased from 14 to 16, out of concern for the exploitation of young girls in particular. As a result of the increase in the age of consent, many people raised an eyebrow at the disproportionate potential penalties for young people convicted of sexual offenses. In 1996, legislators repealed the crime of sexual offense, realizing that the age differential meant that teenage boys would face harsher terms of punishment than teenage girls for the same conduct. Any conduct that might formerly have been prosecuted as a sexual offense could instead be charged as statutory rape or as either second or first degree sexual exploitation of a minor (as long as the parties were close enough in age when the conduct happened). Given that all of these offenses charge a violation of a statute based on the age of the parties, there is no longer any disparity between the potential punishments for a male or a female.
Legal Aspects of the Age of Consent
When a person is below the age of legal consent in North Carolina and engages in sexual activity, the older party may face charges for statutory rape or statutory sexual offense. Statutory rape charges in North Carolina are classified as first-degree sexual offense, if the parties are not married and one party is 13,14 or 15 years of age and 6 years or more older than the other party. Given the severe implications of such charges, it is critical to engage the services of an experienced attorney to handle your case and vigorously protect your constitutional rights. If the offense is charged under the statutory sexual offense statute, the crime is classified as a Class C felony and generally becomes a Class B2 felony if the offender is more than 6 years older than the victim. The convicted defendant may face a number of substantial penalties, including imprisonment, fines, probation and sex offender registration (if applicable), which will have life-long ramifications for the convicted individual.
North Carolina Romeo and Juliet Laws
The North Carolina (N.C.) General Assembly has enacted what is sometimes called a "Romeo and Juliet" law, which is set forth in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-27.7. It permits consensual sexual conduct between a defendant who is 18 years of age or older and a minor who is at least 14 years of age but under 16 years of age, so long as the defendant is no more than four years older than the minor. Although this article focuses on relationships between a minor and an adult, the legislature’s intent was to apply this protection broadly. For that reason, in theory, consensual sexual contact between minors who are "close-in-age" also could be protected by the law.
The preamble to the statute sets forth the North Carolina Legislature’s intent:
The General Assembly enacts the following legislative findings:
- (1) The same psychological, emotional, and physical risks posed by teenage sexual activity that normally exist when each participant is 16 years of age or older also exist when one of the participants is a high school student between the ages of 14 and 16.
- (2) The imposition of criminal sanctions on individuals of an age properly considered to be in their adolescent years, only because of the age of one of the parties to a voluntary sexual encounter, is not beneficial either to the victim of the alleged crime or to society.
- (3) As the result of such criminal sanctioning, a minor victim may, for all practical purposes, be branded as a sex offender for the next 25 years of his or her life, and family members may face difficult logistical problems, not only immediately following the loss of the minor’s innocence, but for many years thereafter.
- (4) In recognition of the extent of sexual activity within the teenage population, both before and after reaching the age of consent, and of the consequential damage to the innocent victims of such activity, the criminal law should take account of the fact that, in today’s society, young people above the age of 13 may be exposed to sexual activity and of the reality that such exposure may itself create a heightened risk of emotional trauma for the young person.
- (5) While premarital sexual activity is not condoned, it is an indisputable fact of contemporary life that sexual activity does take place within the teenage population in North Carolina. It is not appropriate to consider such activity as inherently criminal in nature and to impose criminal sanctions on all individual participants in such sexual activities without regard to age.
- (6) The General Assembly recognizes that particularly vulnerable individuals should be afforded protection if placed in the position of being the possible victim of a sexual offense, and that the law may be utilized as a tool to protect citizens from sexual predators. However, the General Assembly finds that such protection should not apply to both the potential victim and the potential aggressor within the context of consensual adolescent sexual activity, especially when the age difference between the participants is small.
Effects of the Age of Consent on Education and Training
The age of consent has a significant impact on the types of educational programs and awareness campaigns in schools. When the law places minors at a heightened risk for statutory crimes, it creates an obligation for schools to address consent and age-of-consent topics. For instance, many school systems have health courses that focus on consent issues. The subject matter of these courses varies by county, but many tell students that sexual contact with a person under the age of 16 is a crime. Analytics show that a significant portion of teenagers and young adults engage in sexual activity every year. This means that schools are on the front line for statutory rape issues.
Awareness campaigns also target both students and parents. Schools often collaborate with medical providers , social workers, and advocacy groups to provide resources to faculty, students and parents on sex offender exposure, the risk of predatory crimes, and the nature of exploitation. Educational resources often look at the warning signs to help detect when a child might be engaging in predatory relationships. This is particularly important for vulnerable populations, including those with disabilities, those with emotional disabilities, and those who live in impoverished areas.
Parental and Guardian Responsibilities
Parents and Guardians – They Have a Role Too . . . Or Do They?
Children live in a world vastly different from the one in which their parents grew up. Even a decade ago, teenagers rarely heard the term "sexting," much less worried about how they should respond to a request to take a photograph of their genitals or to engage in some other form of sexual conduct over the cell phone. Today, with social media at their fingertips, the likelihood grows exponentially that a child will be on the receiving end of a request – or demand – to be sexually expressive in some form or another. These requests may come from an age mate, an older adult, or someone who presents themselves as being older than twelve years old.
The law in North Carolina criminalizes sexual activity between adults and children below the legal age of consent. When we talk about the legal age of consent, we are usually referring to the age of the child. The legal age of consent in North Carolina is sixteen years old. Oddly, the Court of Appeals has ruled that Sexual Activity Between Person of Age Sixteen or Seventeen and Person Fourteen or Fifteen (N.C.G.S. § 14-27.7) does not apply to any person under the age of fourteen years. State v. Thompson, 813 S.E.2d 687. Parental knowledge, consent, or procurement is also a legal defense to rape only if the defendant was at least age eighteen, or if the defendant was less than age eighteen, then the age difference between the defendant and the victim must not be greater than four years. In all cases with children under the age of sixteen years, where the defendant was under the age of eighteen years, the State is not required to prove that the victim did not consent, nor is the defendant permitted to argue or produce evidence that the victim actually did consent. N.C.G.S. § 14-27.7.
Does this mean that parents and guardians are off the hook when it comes to educating their children about the law and the opportunities to violate it? Absolutely not. The law offers defenses to a person charged with sexual offense with a minor, but those defenses are not available to persons who are under the age of sixteen and have been charged either with or as a result of sexual activity with another person who is also under the age of sixteen. Technically, neither the minor nor the adult is eligible for the statutory defenses, but the attorney should examine the facts of the case to determine whether a defense, an affirmative defense, or compelling mitigating circumstances related to the prosecution may be available. In other words, parents and guardians have a responsibility to educate their charges about the legal age of consent to protect their children from becoming sex offenders. Also, parents and guardians have a responsibility as gate-keepers, focusing on ensuring that their kids do not sexually assault, abuse or exploit their charges. Those charges may be subject to civil liability, as well.
Common Questions about the Age of Consent
Q: I think my girlfriend is underage for consent; can I get in trouble?
A: There is a very specific legal definition of implied consent, however, if you are not sure of your girlfriend’s age, it is always better to just ask. In most situations you could be returning home to an unwelcomed surprise.
Q: What if I am dating someone of difference religious or ethnic backgrounds, how can I know if mutual consent applies?
A: In North Carolina, the following requirements must be met in order for the consent laws to apply:
• Parties involved must be 16 years or older.
• Both parties must be unmarried and not related by blood .
• Neither individual should be in a position of authority or control over the other.
Q: I’m engaging in an online relationship with someone I’ve never met, but I’m sure they are of age. Is this legal?
A: Online relationships can be different than those of face-to-face. However, for a relationship to be deemed legal, a person must meet the above requirements.
Q: My friend is involved in a relationship with another student at school; will they be in violation of the law?
A: Each person must be 16 years or older and unmarried. The relationship must be consensual. It would also be unlawful for one to use his or her position of authority or control to exploit the relationship.