Age of Consent Laws: North Carolina, South Carolina and Missouri Explained

Last reviewed: October 4, 2026. This article is general information, not legal advice. These statutes change and turn on exact ages and facts; check the current statute and speak to a licensed attorney in the state concerned.

People search for the age of consent for many reasons: a parent worried about a teenager's relationship, a young person trying to understand the rules, or someone facing an allegation. This guide sets out, in neutral terms, what the statutes in North Carolina, South Carolina and Missouri say, where the close-in-age rules are, and what the penalties and registration consequences can be.

Short answer: In practice, the age of consent is 16 in North Carolina, 16 in South Carolina and 17 in Missouri. None of these states has one "age of consent" law. The age comes from criminal statutes that make sexual activity with younger people a serious felony, with penalties that depend on the ages involved and the age gap. Each state handles close-in-age situations differently, and none of them offers a broad safe harbour.

Jump to your state:

• What is the age of consent in North Carolina?
• What is the legal age of consent in South Carolina?
• What is the legal age of consent in Missouri?
• Where to get help

If you are looking for Florida, see our guide to Florida's Romeo and Juliet law.

What "age of consent" means legally

The age of consent is the age at which the law treats a person as able to agree to sexual activity. Below that age, the younger person's agreement is not a defence: the offence is defined by ages, not by whether anyone said yes.

Three points apply in all three states:

• The statutes are age-based. What matters is how old each person actually was, and the gap between them.
• Force or incapacity is a separate crime. Close-in-age rules only ever concern consensual conduct. Sexual activity involving force, threats or someone unable to consent is prosecuted under other laws regardless of age.
• Images are separate. Creating, sharing or possessing sexual images of anyone under 18 is a separate serious crime under state and federal law (for example 18 U.S.C. § 2252A), even where the age of consent is 16 or 17.

What is the age of consent in North Carolina?

The age of consent in North Carolina is effectively 16: the state's statutory rape and statutory sexual offence laws protect people who are "15 years of age or younger."

How the statutes are built:

• First-degree statutory rape (G.S. 14-27.24) covers a victim under 13 where the defendant is at least 12 years old and at least four years older. It is a Class B1 felony, one of the most serious classes in North Carolina law.
• Statutory rape of a person 15 or younger (G.S. 14-27.25) is a Class B1 felony when the defendant is at least six years older, and a Class C felony when the defendant is more than four but less than six years older.
• Statutory sexual offence with a person 15 or younger (G.S. 14-27.30) uses the same age rules as § 14-27.25 for other sexual acts.
• Taking indecent liberties with children (G.S. 14-202.1) applies where the defendant is "16 years of age or more and at least five years older than the child in question." It is a Class F felony.

Is there a close-in-age exception in North Carolina?

There is no statute called a Romeo and Juliet law. The effect comes from the age gaps written into the offences: the statutory rape provisions for 13- to 15-year-olds apply when the older person is more than four years older. That does not make other conduct lawful in every case; other offences, juvenile court and the rules on force or incapacity can still apply, so get legal advice on specific facts.

Registration in North Carolina

Under G.S. 14-208.6, first-degree statutory rape, statutory rape under § 14-27.25(a), statutory sexual offence under § 14-27.30(a) and indecent liberties with children are listed as "sexually violent offenses." A final conviction for a sexually violent offence is a reportable conviction, which triggers registration. Our guide to North Carolina sex offender laws explains how the registry works.

What is the legal age of consent in South Carolina?

The legal age of consent in South Carolina is 16. South Carolina calls the offence "criminal sexual conduct with a minor" (S.C. Code § 16-3-655) rather than statutory rape, and grades it by the younger person's age:

• First degree covers a victim under 11, or a victim under 16 where the actor has certain prior sex-offence convictions or registry orders. Penalties include a mandatory minimum of 25 years or life imprisonment.
• Second degree covers a victim who is "fourteen years of age or less but who is at least eleven years of age," or a victim aged 14 or 15 where the actor "is in a position of familial, custodial, or official authority to coerce the victim to submit or is older than the victim." It carries up to 20 years in prison.
• Third degree covers lewd or lascivious acts on a child under 16 by someone over 14. It carries up to 15 years, a fine, or both.

Is there a close-in-age exception in South Carolina?

Yes, a narrow one. Under § 16-3-655(B), a person "may not be convicted of a violation of the provisions of this item if he is eighteen years of age or less when he engages in consensual sexual conduct with another person who is at least fourteen years of age." A similar exception applies to the third-degree offence. It does not protect anyone aged 19 or over, does not cover anyone under 14, and does not apply to conduct that is not consensual.

Registration in South Carolina

S.C. Code § 23-3-430 lists second- and third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor as Tier II registry offences. The same section says that if a court makes a specific finding on the record that the conviction resulted from consensual conduct covered by the close-in-age rule, with the offender aged 18 or under, or consensual conduct between people under 16, "the convicted person is not an offender and is not required to register."

What is the legal age of consent in Missouri?

The legal age of consent in Missouri is 17. The age comes from several offences in Chapter 566, none of which contains an exception for parental permission:

• Statutory rape in the first degree (§ 566.032) covers sexual intercourse with a person under 14. The authorized prison term is life or not less than 10 years, rising to not less than 15 years if the victim is under 12 or the offence is aggravated.
• Statutory rape in the second degree (§ 566.034) covers a person aged 21 or older with someone under 17. It is a class D felony. Statutory sodomy in the second degree (§ 566.064) applies the same ages to other sexual acts.
• Child molestation in the fourth degree (§ 566.071) covers someone "more than four years older than a child who is less than seventeen years of age" who subjects the child to sexual contact. It is a class E felony.

Is there a close-in-age exception in Missouri?

Missouri has no statute called a Romeo and Juliet law, and there is no general exception for teenagers close in age. The 21-and-over threshold applies only to the second-degree statutory rape and sodomy offences; the fourth-degree child molestation offence applies to anyone more than four years older than a child under 17, and the first-degree offences protect children under 14 regardless of the other person's age. You may see claims online that Missouri's age of consent is 18 or 21; the statutes above show it is 17.

Registration in Missouri

Missouri requires registration for people adjudicated of offences that classify them as tier I, II or III offenders (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 589.400, amended effective August 28, 2026). The tier depends on the specific offence, so a Missouri attorney should confirm how it applies in any particular case.

Where to get help

• A child in immediate danger: call 911.
• Online sexual exploitation of a child: report it to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's CyberTipline, or call NCMEC's 24-hour hotline at 1-800-843-5678.
• Abuse by a family member or caregiver: contact local police or your state's child protective services agency.
• Survivors of sexual assault can call RAINN's National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.
• Facing an allegation: speak to a criminal defense attorney or public defender before talking to anyone about the case.

Sources

• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-27.24, First-degree statutory rape (FindLaw)
• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-27.25, Statutory rape of a person 15 years of age or younger (FindLaw)
• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-27.30, Statutory sexual offense (FindLaw)
• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-202.1, Taking indecent liberties with children (FindLaw)
• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-208.6, Sex offender registration definitions (FindLaw)
• S.C. Code § 16-3-655, Criminal sexual conduct with a minor (South Carolina Legislature)
• S.C. Code § 23-3-430, Sex offender registry (South Carolina Legislature)
• Mo. Rev. Stat. § 566.032, Statutory rape in the first degree (Missouri Revisor of Statutes)
• Mo. Rev. Stat. § 566.034, Statutory rape in the second degree (Missouri Revisor of Statutes)
• Mo. Rev. Stat. § 566.064, Statutory sodomy in the second degree (Missouri Revisor of Statutes)
• Mo. Rev. Stat. § 566.071, Child molestation in the fourth degree (Missouri Revisor of Statutes)
• Mo. Rev. Stat. § 589.400, Sex offender registration (Missouri Revisor of Statutes)
• NCMEC CyberTipline
• RAINN, National Sexual Assault Hotline
• 18 U.S.C. § 2252A, Material involving the sexual exploitation of minors (Cornell LII)