Understanding Age of Consent Laws

As we know, the law can dramatically change from state to state and country to country. Age of consent laws are no exception. To help you understand what these laws are and why they are important, we have produced this article.

What are Age of Consent Laws?

In the United States, each state has its own age of consent laws. These laws describe, on a basic level, the youngest age at which a person is legally permitted to consent to sexual activity. In many states, the legal age of consent is 16. In Illinois, the law states that anyone who is at least 17 years of age may legally consent.

Why It Matters

In addition to the laws as they relate to sexual relationships, age of consent may be relevant to custody decisions in court cases. When determining child custody, age of consent is important because it defines when a child is able to legally consent to leave the home of one parent alone. For example: According to the in depth guide on legal age of consent in Illinois, this gives parents certain rights when it comes to visitation. For example, consider the situation of a divorcing couple. One of the couple’s children is 15 years old. In most cases, neither parent will receive full custody of the child because that would likely negatively impact the child’s life. In order to make a decision as fair as possible, the court will most likely split custody time between the two parents. If one parent holds full custody but the child often spends time at the other parent’s home, there could be an issue with the child spending so much time away from the custody holder. To prevent this from happening, the court will likely require the child to spend a minimum amount of time with his or her custodial parent. In most cases, this is in accordance with the age of consent laws.