![3 times when sex with someone under 17 is legal in Colorado [2022 UPDATES IN DESCRIPTION]](https://www.shouselaw.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-youtube-lyte/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FcBTMzEz8l80%2F0.jpg)
Colorado’s age of consent is 17 years old. This means minors younger than 17 cannot lawfully consent to penetrative sex, such as:
- Vaginal intercourse (“sexual intercourse”),
- Oral copulation (“fellatio” or “cunnilingus”),
- Anal sex,
- Anilingus,
- Fingering, or
- Penetration with a foreign object.
Anyone who has penetrative sex with minors under the age of consent faces Colorado statutory rape charges unless:
- they are married; or
- they fall under the Romeo and Juliet law (also called the “close-in-age exception”).
Colorado’s Romeo and Juliet law provides two exceptions where the age of consent is younger than 17:
- Minors who are 15 or 16 can consent to penetrative sex with people less than 10 years older than them; and
- Minors who are 14 or younger can consent to penetrative sex with people less than 4 years older than them.
Examples
- Jeremy (17) can consent to penetrative sex with Kim (24) because they both reached the age of consent.
- Fred (15) can lawfully consent to penetrative sex with Kim (24) because they are less than 10 years apart.
- Sally (14) can lawfully consent to penetrative sex with Fred (15) and Jeremy (17) because they are less than four years older than her. However, Sally could not consent to penetrative sex with Kim (24) because their age difference is at least 10 years.
To help you better understand the law, our Denver Colorado criminal defense lawyers answer the following frequently asked questions:
- 1. What is the point of age of consent laws?
- 2. What is the point of the Romeo and Juliet law?
- 3. What if the minor lied about being 17 or appeared 17?
- 4. What if the minor initiated the sex?
- 5. What are the penalties for statutory rape?
- 6. How do I fight the charges?
- 7. What if we fooled around, but there was no sex?
- 8. What if we are married?
- 9. Was 17 always the age of consent in Colorado?
- 10. Related Offenses
- Additional Reading
1. What is the point of age of consent laws?
Sex is a big decision that could result in pregnancy, the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases, and social stigmas, which have lifelong physical and emotional consequences.
Statutory rape laws deter adults from entering into a sexual relationship with minors under 17 years old, who are too immature to make such important decisions about parenthood and personal health.
2. What is the point of the Romeo and Juliet law?
The reality is that teenagers are going to explore their sexuality with their peers. That is healthy and normal.
What is not healthy and normal is teenagers exploring their sexuality with adults far too old for them, which presents a dangerous power imbalance. Therefore, Colorado’s Romeo and Juliet law caps the age of partners who teens can lawfully consent to penetrative sex with, as the following chart shows:
| Minor Under the Age of Consent (17) | Lawful Sex Partner in Colorado |
| 15- or 16-year-old | Someone who is less than 10 years older |
| 14-year-old or younger | Someone who is less than 4 years older |
3. What if the minor lied about being 17 or appeared 17?
It does not matter. Unless you fall under Colorado’s Romeo and Juliet exception, you can be convicted of statutory rape for having consensual penetrative sex with a minor under 17 even if:
- you genuinely thought the minor was at least 17,
- the minor looked at least 17, or
- the minor lied about being at least 17.1
4. What if the minor initiated the sex?
It also does not matter. Unless Colorado’s Romeo and Juliet exception applies to your case, it is always a crime to have penetrative sex with someone under the age of consent even if they wanted or initiated the sex.2
5. What are the penalties for statutory rape?
Statutory rape – which is prosecuted in Colorado as sexual assault (CRS 18-3-402) – is a felony that requires sex offender registration in addition to hefty prison terms and fines.3 This chart illustrates the penalties:
| Statutory Rape in Colorado | Criminal Sentence |
| The minor was younger than 15, and you are at least 4 years older | Class 4 felony: 2 to 6 years in prison and/or $2,000 to $500,000 |
| The minor is 15 or 16, and you are at least 10 years older | Class 6 felony: 1 year to 18 months in prison and/or $1,000 to $100,000 |
6. How do I fight the charges?
Here at Colorado Legal Defense Group, we have represented literally thousands of people charged with statutory rape-related crimes. In our experience, judges, juries, and prosecutors are aware that many people who get charged with sex offenses are wrongfully accused.
Two common defenses we rely on are:
- 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.
- 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.
Remember that honestly believing the minor was at least 17 – called a “mistake of fact” – is not a defense to criminal charges. This is because statutory rape is a strict liability crime.4
Colorado’s age of consent is 17 under CRS 18-3-402.
7. What if we fooled around, but there was no sex?
In Colorado, minors under 15 years old 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 (CRS 18-3-405). The class 4 felony penalties include:
- 2 to 6 years in prison, and/or
- A fine of $2,000 to $500,000.
8. What if we are married?
Lawfully married couples can legally have sex with each other in Colorado no matter their ages or age difference. (Colorado does not recognize common law marriage when one of the partners is under 18.)
Note that 16- and 17-year-olds can marry in Colorado only with the consent of both parents or legal guardians. For minors under 16, the judge must also sign off on the union.5
9. Was 17 always the age of consent in Colorado?
No. Before 1975, the age of consent was 16, and there was a Romeo and Juliet exception for sex partners with an age difference of less than two years.
From 1975 to 2000, the age of consent was lowered to 15, and there was a Romeo and Juliet exception for sex partners with an age difference of less than four years.
The age of consent has been 17 since 2000. Though prior to March 1, 2022, statutory rape between a 15- or 16-year-old with an adult at least 10 years older was an extraordinary risk class 1 misdemeanor carrying six to 24 months in jail and/or $500 to $5,000 in fines. As discussed above, now this crime is prosecuted as a class 6 felony.
10. Related Offenses
- Sexual assault of a child by one in a position of trust (CRS 18-3-405.3)
- Sexual exploitation of a child (CRS 18-6-403)
- Internet sexual exploitation of a child (CRS 18-3-405.4)
- Procurement of a child for sexual exploitation (CRS 18-6-404)
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:
- CRS 18-3-402 – Sexual Assault
(1) Any actor who knowingly inflicts sexual intrusion or sexual penetration on a victim commits sexual assault if:
(a) The actor causes sexual intrusion or sexual penetration knowing the victim does not consent; or
(b) The actor knows that the victim is incapable of appraising the nature of the victim’s conduct; or
(c) The actor knows that the victim submits erroneously, believing the actor to be the victim’s spouse; or
(d) At the time of the commission of the act, the victim is less than fifteen years of age and the actor is at least four years older than the victim and is not the spouse of the victim; or
(e) At the time of the commission of the act, the victim is at least fifteen years of age but less than seventeen years of age and the actor is at least ten years older than the victim and is not the spouse of the victim; or
(f) The victim is in custody of law or detained in a hospital or other institution and the actor has supervisory or disciplinary authority over the victim and uses this position of authority to coerce the victim to submit, unless the act is incident to a lawful search; or
(g) The actor, while purporting to offer a medical service, engages in treatment or examination of a victim for other than a bona fide medical purpose or in a manner substantially inconsistent with reasonable medical practices; or
(h) The victim is physically helpless and the actor knows the victim is physically helpless and the victim has not consented.
(2) Sexual assault is a class 4 felony, except as provided in subsections (3), (3.5), (4), and (5) of this section.
(3) If committed under the circumstances of subsection (1)(e) of this section, sexual assault is a class 6 felony. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a person convicted of subsection (1)(e) of this section is eligible to petition for removal from the registry in accordance with section 16-22-113 (1)(b).
(3.5) Sexual assault is a class 3 felony if committed under the circumstances described in paragraph (h) of subsection (1) of this section.
(4) Sexual assault is a class 3 felony if it is attended by any one or more of the following circumstances:
(a) The actor causes submission of the victim through the actual application of physical force or physical violence; or
(b) The actor causes submission of the victim by threat of imminent death, serious bodily injury, extreme pain, or kidnapping, to be inflicted on anyone, and the victim believes that the actor has the present ability to execute these threats; or
(c) The actor causes submission of the victim by threatening to retaliate in the future against the victim, or any other person, and the victim reasonably believes that the actor will execute this threat. As used in this paragraph (c), “to retaliate” includes threats of kidnapping, death, serious bodily injury, or extreme pain.
(d) The actor has substantially impaired the victim’s power to appraise or control the victim’s conduct by employing, without the victim’s consent, any drug, intoxicant, or other means for the purpose of causing submission.
(e) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2002, p. 1578, § 2, effective July 1, 2002.)
(5)
(a) Sexual assault is a class 2 felony if any one or more of the following circumstances exist:
(I) In the commission of the sexual assault, the actor is physically aided or abetted by one or more other persons; or
(II) The victim suffers serious bodily injury; or
(III) The actor is armed with a deadly weapon or an article used or fashioned in a manner to cause a person to reasonably believe that the article is a deadly weapon or represents verbally or otherwise that the actor is armed with a deadly weapon and uses the deadly weapon, article, or representation to cause submission of the victim.
(b)
(I) If a defendant is convicted of sexual assault pursuant to this subsection (5), the court shall sentence the defendant in accordance with section 18-1.3-401 (8)(e). A person convicted solely of sexual assault pursuant to this subsection (5) shall not be sentenced under the crime of violence provisions of section 18-1.3-406 (2). Any sentence for a conviction under this subsection (5) shall be consecutive to any sentence for a conviction for a crime of violence under section 18-1.3-406.
(II) The provisions of this paragraph (b) shall apply to offenses committed prior to November 1, 1998.
(6) Any person convicted of felony sexual assault committed on or after November 1, 1998, under any of the circumstances described in this section shall be sentenced in accordance with the provisions of part 10 of article 1.3 of this title.
(7) A person who is convicted on or after July 1, 2013, of a sexual assault under this section, upon conviction, shall be advised by the court that the person has no right:
(a) To notification of the termination of parental rights and no standing to object to the termination of parental rights for a child conceived as a result of the commission of that offense;
(b) To allocation of parental responsibilities, including parenting time and decision-making responsibilities for a child conceived as a result of the commission of that offense;
(c) Of inheritance from a child conceived as a result of the commission of that offense; and
(d) To notification of or the right to object to the adoption of a child conceived as a result of the commission of that offense. - Same.
- Same.
- See also United States v. Wray, (10th Cir. 2015) 776 F.3d 1182.
- CRS 14-2-106.