Age of Consent in Texas

What is the legal Age of Consent in Texas?

The legal Age of Consent in Texas is 17. The definition of “Age of Consent” in Texas is when a person may legally consent to engage in sexual activity with another person. Texas Penal Code states that once a person becomes 17 years of age they are capable to give consent for sexual activity with another person.

Texas Penal Code Section 21.11 and Penal Code Section 22.011 defines the legal Age of Consent in Texas. Penal Code Section 21.11 prohibits sexual conduct with a child younger than the age of 17 and Penal Code Section 22.011 defines sexual assault of a child and defines a child as anyone under the age of 17.

Once a person is no longer under the age of 17 they are considered in Texas to be capable of giving consent for sexual activity.

If you have any questions about the legal the legal Age of Consent in Texas, please call and talk to one of the Sex Crimes Lawyers at Dunham & Jones.

Age of Consent Outside Texas

Not all states share the same age of consent. The age of consent can range from 14 to 18 years of age across the United States. Some states may have special rules if one of the persons is over the legal age of consent, but under 21.

The legal Age of Consent for states bordering Texas:

• Arkansas: 16 – Any person under the age of consent is deemed to be mentally incapable of consenting to sex. Thus, if an adult has sex with a minor below the age of consent, the adult may be charged with statutory rape. In Arkansas, a person must be at least 16 years old in order to consent to sex.
• Louisiana: 17 – For example, in terms of a 3 years age difference, a 13 year old can consent to sex with a person who is 16 years old, but a 15 year old may not consent to sex with a 18 year old. However, a person 17 or older can consent to have sex with a person of any age.
• New Mexico: 17 – In New Mexico, the age of consent is 17 years old. If an adult (an individual over the age of 18) has sex with a minor between the ages of 13 and 16, the adult may be prosecuted for 4th degree criminal sexual penetration.
• Oklahoma: 16 – In Oklahoma, the age of consent for sexual intercourse is 16 years old for both males and females. The age of consent is the minimum legal age in which a person has the mental capacity to consent to sexual intercourse with another person. This mainly refers to a minor engaging in intercourse with adult.

Legal Age of Consent in the United States

Chapter 21. Sexual Offenses

Sec. 21.11. INDECENCY WITH A CHILD.

1. A person commits an offense if, with a child younger than 17 years of age, whether the child is of the same or opposite sex, the person:
1. engages in sexual contact with the child or causes the child to engage in sexual contact; or
2. with intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person:
1. exposes the person’s anus or any part of the person’s genitals, knowing the child is present; or
2. causes the child to expose the child’s anus or any part of the child’s genitals.
2. It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this section that the actor:
1. was not more than three years older than the victim and of the opposite sex;
2. did not use duress, force, or a threat against the victim at the time of the offense; and
3. at the time of the offense:
1. was not required under Chapter 62, Code of Criminal Procedure, to register for life as a sex offender; or
2. was not a person who under Chapter 62 had a reportable conviction or adjudication for an offense under this section.

2. b-1. It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this section that the actor was the spouse of the child at the time of the offense.

3. In this section, “sexual contact” means the following acts, if committed with the intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person:
1. any touching by a person, including touching through clothing, of the anus, breast, or any part of the genitals of a child; or
2. any touching of any part of the body of a child, including touching through clothing, with the anus, breast, or any part of the genitals of a person.
4. An offense under Subsection (a)(1) is a felony of the second degree and an offense under Subsection (a)(2) is a felony of the third degree.

Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., p. 883, ch. 399, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1974. Amended by Acts 1981, 67th Leg., p. 472, ch. 202, Sec. 3, eff. Sept. 1, 1981; Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 1028, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987; Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 900, Sec. 1.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1994; Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1415, Sec. 23, eff. Sept. 1, 1999; Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 739, Sec. 2, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.

Amended by:
Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 260 (H.B. 549), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2009.

Chapter 22. Assaultive Offenses

Sec. 22.011. SEXUAL ASSAULT.

1. A person commits an offense if:
1. the person intentionally or knowingly:
1. causes the penetration of the anus or sexual organ of another person by any means, without that person’s consent;
2. causes the penetration of the mouth of another person by the sexual organ of the actor, without that person’s consent; or
3. causes the sexual organ of another person, without that person’s consent, to contact or penetrate the mouth, anus, or sexual organ of another person, including the actor; or
2. regardless of whether the person knows the age of the child at the time of the offense, the person intentionally or knowingly:
1. causes the penetration of the anus or sexual organ of a child by any means;
2. causes the penetration of the mouth of a child by the sexual organ of the actor;
3. causes the sexual organ of a child to contact or penetrate the mouth, anus, or sexual organ of another person, including the actor;
4. causes the anus of a child to contact the mouth, anus, or sexual organ of another person, including the actor; or
5. causes the mouth of a child to contact the anus or sexual organ of another person, including the actor.
2. A sexual assault under Subsection (a)(1) is without the consent of the other person if:
1. the actor compels the other person to submit or participate by the use of physical force, violence, or coercion;
2. the actor compels the other person to submit or participate by threatening to use force or violence against the other person or to cause harm to the other person, and the other person believes that the actor has the present ability to execute the threat;
3. the other person has not consented and the actor knows the other person is unconscious or physically unable to resist;
4. the actor knows that as a result of mental disease or defect the other person is at the time of the sexual assault incapable either of appraising the nature of the act or of resisting it;
5. the other person has not consented and the actor knows the other person is unaware that the sexual assault is occurring;
6. the actor has intentionally impaired the other person’s power to appraise or control the other person’s conduct by administering any substance without the other person’s knowledge;
7. the actor compels the other person to submit or participate by threatening to use force or violence against any person, and the other person believes that the actor has the ability to execute the threat;
8. the actor is a public servant who coerces the other person to submit or participate;
9. the actor is a mental health services provider or a health care services provider who causes the other person, who is a patient or former patient of the actor, to submit or participate by exploiting the other person’s emotional dependency on the actor;
10. the actor is a clergyman who causes the other person to submit or participate by exploiting the other person’s emotional dependency on the clergyman in the clergyman’s professional character as spiritual adviser; or
11. the actor is an employee of a facility where the other person is a resident, unless the employee and resident are formally or informally married to each other under Chapter 2, Family Code.
3. In this section:
1. “Child” means a person younger than 17 years of age.
2. “Spouse” means a person who is legally married to another.
3. “Health care services provider” means:
1. a physician licensed under Subtitle B, Title 3, Occupations Code;
2. a chiropractor licensed under Chapter 201, Occupations Code;
3. a physical therapist licensed under Chapter 453, Occupations Code;
4. a physician assistant licensed under Chapter 204, Occupations Code; or
5. a registered nurse, a vocational nurse, or an advanced practice nurse licensed under Chapter 301, Occupations Code.
4. “Mental health services provider” means an individual, licensed or unlicensed, who performs or purports to perform mental health services, including a:
1. licensed social worker as defined by Section 505.002, Occupations Code;
2. chemical dependency counselor as defined by Section 504.001, Occupations Code;
3. licensed professional counselor as defined by Section 503.002, Occupations Code;
4. licensed marriage and family therapist as defined by Section 502.002, Occupations Code;
5. member of the clergy;
6. psychologist offering psychological services as defined by Section 501.003, Occupations Code; or
7. special officer for mental health assignment certified under Section 1701.404, Occupations Code.
5. “Employee of a facility” means a person who is an employee of a facility defined by Section 250.001, Health and Safety Code, or any other person who provides services for a facility for compensation, including a contract laborer.
4. It is a defense to prosecution under Subsection (a)(2) that the conduct consisted of medical care for the child and did not include any contact between the anus or sexual organ of the child and the mouth, anus, or sexual organ of the actor or a third party.
5. It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under Subsection (a)(2):
1. that the actor was the spouse of the child at the time of the offense; or
2. that:
1. the actor was not more than three years older than the victim and at the time of the offense:
1. was not required under Chapter 62, Code of Criminal Procedure, to register for life as a sex offender; or
2. was not a person who under Chapter 62, Code of Criminal Procedure, had a reportable conviction or adjudication for an offense under this section; and
2. the victim:
1. was a child of 14 years of age or older; and
2. was not a person whom the actor was prohibited from marrying or purporting to marry or with whom the actor was prohibited from living under the appearance of being married under Section 25.01.
6. An offense under this section is a felony of the second degree, except that an offense under this section is a felony of the first degree if the victim was a person whom the actor was prohibited from marrying or purporting to marry or with whom the actor was prohibited from living under the appearance of being married under Section 25.01.