The Legal “Age of Consent” in Colorado – 17 in Most Cases

Seventeen years old is Colorado’s age of consent. This means having penetrative sex with a minor under 17 is statutory rape, which in Colorado is prosecuted as sexual assault.

That said, Colorado has a Romeo and Juliet exception that permits penetrative sex with someone under the age of consent if either:

• The minor is 15 or 16, and you are less than 10 years older than them; or
• The minor is 14 or younger, and you are less than four years older than them.

Unless Colorado’s close-in-age exemption applies, you face the following penalties for penetrative sex with a child younger than the age of consent.

If the minor was 15 or 16 – and you are at least 10 years older – statutory rape is a class 6 felony carrying:

• 1 year to 18 months in prison and/or $1,000 to $100,000 plus
• sex offender registration for at least 10 years.

If the minor was younger than 15 – and you are at least four years older – statutory rape is a class 4 felony carrying:

• 2 to 6 years in prison and/or $2,000 to $500,000 plus
• lifetime sex offender registration.

In this article, our Denver criminal defense lawyers will address the following key issues regarding Colorado age of consent laws.

• 1. Prohibited Sex Acts
• 2. Defenses
• 3. Underage Marriage
• 4. Purpose of Age of Consent Laws
• 5. Related Crimes
• Additional Reading

1. Prohibited Sex Acts

In Colorado, statutory rape forbids having any kind of consensual penetrative sex with a minor under 17 unless the Romeo and Juliet exception applies. Penetrative sex includes:

• Vaginal intercourse (“sexual intercourse”),
• Oral copulation (“fellatio” or “cunnilingus”),
• Anal sex,
• Anilingus,
• Fingering, or
• Penetration with a foreign object.¹

With regard to non-penetrative sex, minors under 15 in Colorado cannot lawfully consent to sexual groping with anyone at least four years older. Sexual groping comprises touching of breasts, buttocks, or genital areas for the purpose of sexual arousal, gratification, or abuse.

Sexual groping with a minor 14 or younger is typically prosecuted in Colorado as sexual assault on a child. The class 4 felony penalties carries two to six years in prison and/or $2,000 to $500,000 plus sex offender registration.²

Colorado’s Romeo and Juliet Law permits close-in-age young adults to lawfully explore their sexuality with each other.

2. Defenses

Here at Colorado Legal Defense Group, we have represented literally thousands of people charged with sex crimes, including those involving someone under the age of consent. In our experience, the following three defenses have proven very effective with judges, juries, and prosecutors at getting these criminal cases reduced or dismissed.

1. The alleged victim was at least 17: Perhaps your accuser lied to police about being underage to get you into trouble. We see cases all the time where vengeful exes levy false accusations because they feel spurned or rejected. Once we show the D.A. their birth certificate or similar records that prove their age, the criminal charge should be dropped.
2. No sexual conduct or contact occurred: Since most sexual encounters are not recorded, prosecutors often have a hard time proving that anything physical happened. In many cases, we find evidence of contemporaneous text messages from the accuser indicating that no sexual touching occurred. As long as there is a “reasonable doubt” as to your guilt, criminal charges cannot stand.
3. The police committed misconduct: If the police found any incriminating evidence through an unlawful search, we can ask the court to suppress that evidence. If the judge agrees, the D.A. may be left with too weak of a case to continue prosecuting.

Note that it is not a defense that you honestly believed the minor had reached the age of consent. Nor does it matter if the minor lied about being old enough or looked old enough. This is because statutory rape is a strict liability crime; therefore, “mistakes of fact” cannot help you.³

It also is not a defense if the minor was emotionally mature or initiated the encounter. As long as they are under the age of consent – and the Romeo and Juliet exception does not apply – they cannot lawfully choose to have sex.

It is not a defense to statutory rape if the alleged victim appeared to be the age of consent.

3. Underage Marriage

Married couples can lawfully have sex with each other in Colorado no matter their ages or age difference. However, 16- and 17-year-olds can marry in Colorado only if a juvenile court determines that they are capable of assuming the responsibilities of marriage and that the marriage would serve their best interests.

Note that Colorado does not recognize common law marriage when one of the partners is under 18 years old.⁴

4. Purpose of Age of Consent Laws

Penetrative sex is a big decision that could result in pregnancy, the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and social stigmas, all of which have lifelong physical and emotional consequences.

Therefore, Colorado’s statutory rape laws deter adults from entering into a sexual relationship with minors under the age of consent, who are too immature to make such important decisions about parenthood and personal health.

Note that minors under the age of consent are not the only people lawfully incapable of agreeing to sex in Colorado. Also unable to consent to sex are people who are either:

• intoxicated or unconscious,
• suffering from a physical or mental condition that makes it impossible to signal consent or understand what is going on,
• under duress or being coerced,
• being physically forced against their will,
• being tricked into having sex with one person while under the reasonable impression they are someone else, or
• in custody at a hospital or detention center, and a person with supervisory authority takes advantage of them.

Just in 2021, Colorado enacted a new law making it a class 1 misdemeanor for educators to have sex with students at least 18 years old (unless the age difference is four years or less). It does not matter that the students are adults. Penalties include up to 364 days in jail and/or $1,000.⁵

Colorado’s age of consent is 17 under CRS 18-3-402.

5. Related Offenses

1. Sexual assault of a child by one in a position of trust (CRS 18-3-405.3): Sexual contact with a child by someone in a position of trust over the child, such as teachers, physicians, clergy, etc.
2. Sexual exploitation of a child (CRS 18-6-403): Creating, possessing, or distributing child pornography and exploiting children for sexual purposes.
3. Internet sexual exploitation of a child (CRS 18-3-405.4): Using the internet to coerce or induce a child under 15 to expose intimate parts or perform sexual acts.
4. Procurement of a child for sexual exploitation (CRS 18-6-404): Recruiting or enticing a child to participate in pornography.

Additional Reading

For more in-depth information on the age of consent, refer to these scholarly articles:

• Romeo and Juliet Were Sex Offenders: An Analysis of the Age of Consent and a Call for Reform – University of Missouri-Kansas City Law Review.
• The Age of Consent – Yale Law Journal.
• You Can Touch, But You Can’t Look: Examining the Inconsistencies in Our Age of Consent and Child Pornography Laws – Southern California Law Review.
• A Bee Line in the Wrong Direction: Science, Teenagers, and the Sting to the Age of Consent – Journal of Law and Politics.
• Age of Consent – Journal of Psychology & Human Sexuality.

Legal References: