The
United States is a
federation of
states where the age of consent laws are made at the state,
territorial, and
federal district levels. There exist several
federal statutes related to protecting minors from sexual predators, but none of them imposes an age limit on sexual acts. On 26 June 2003, both heterosexual and homosexual sodomy became legal in all U.S. states, territories, and the federal district under the
U.S. Supreme Court decision
Lawrence v. Texas[49] (between non-commercial, consenting adults in a private bedroom). In
State v. Limon (2005), the
Kansas Supreme Court used
Lawrence as a precedent to overturn the state's "Romeo and Juliet" law, which proscribed lesser penalties for heterosexuals than homosexuals convicted of similar age of consent related offenses.
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Each U.S. state (and the District of Columbia) has its own age of consent. Currently state laws set the age of consent at 16, 17, or 18. The most common age is 16.
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