Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: Statutory rape

There is no need to stop seeing each other, but seeing another person is not the same thing as having sex with them. Any sexual contact between the teens you describe will be statutory rape until they are both 18 (and any sex they had while both below age 18 was also illegal). The penalties for statutory rape are lower where the age difference between the parties is as small as you describe, but it is still a crime.

I realize that this is an area where the law does not seem to recognize social realities. This fact leads many teenagers to mistakenly believe that the law somehow grants an exemption for couples who were already having sex when both were under 18, but this is not how the law works.

Re: Statutory rape

Thank you for your inquiry.

Technically, because the law presumes that anyone under the age of 18 cannot legally give consent, either party under age 18 can be charged with statutory rape. This of course makes a better case for the prosecution if one person is above age 18, and the alleged victim is not, as one person is now presumed to be an adult (and must act as one), and the person below 18 still cannot give consent.

I hope this answers your question, but if you need legal representation, please feel free to email me directly at [email protected].