Changes in Statutory Rape Laws Across the United States From 2000 to 2021: A Publicly Available, Longitudinal...

Statutory rape laws establish the age of consent to sex and related exceptions. To date, scholars have rarely examined statutory rape laws in the United States (US), in part because no comprehensive database of the laws exists.

We created a longitudinal database of statutory rape laws in each of the 50 US states and Washington, DC between 2000 and 2021. We coded laws according to age of consent to sex, close-in-age exceptions, and marital exemptions and examined how they have changed in the first two decades of the 21st century.

In 2021, the age of consent varied between 16 (n = 32), 17 (n = 7), and 18 (n = 12) across states. Most states had exceptions to the age of consent for persons close-in-age (n = 39) and married couples (n = 39). From 2000 to 2021, one state increased its age of consent, two states removed close-in-age exceptions and four added them, six states removed marital exemptions, while two instated them.

Statutory rape definitions and exceptions varied widely between states, but within states, the laws rarely changed in the past two decades. The variability of laws across states raises questions about how statutory rape laws should be structured. Our longitudinal database will facilitate research which may provide a stronger empirical basis for future policies.