Georgia’s Legal Age of Consent: Facts and Implications Under the Law

What Is the Legal Age of Consent in Georgia?

Georgia law determines the legal age of consent. A person must be age 16 or older to give consent to engage in sexual acts in the state of Georgia. Accordingly, it is a crime for an adult to participate in sexual conduct with someone age 15 or younger.
There are a few exceptions to this law. For example, the law has an exception for people who are legally married to each other. Because these are marriage-related provisions, they do not apply unless both parties are legally married. Anyone who is not married is subjected to the same age of consent laws in Georgia.
Additionally, the age of consent provision does not extend to people who are legally in a position of trust or authority over someone who is less than 18 years old . This means that people who are less than 18 cannot legally consent to sexual conduct with their teachers or coaches, for example. Even if the conduct occurs between two minors, if one of them is in a position of trust or authority over the other, it may still be a crime.
The age of consent in Georgia makes exceptions for people in the military. Military law governs these individuals instead of state law. These laws are unique and differ from civil or state law. In addition to military laws, most U.S. states have laws against sexual conduct with service members.

The History Behind Consent Laws in Georgia

In Georgia, the age of consent for sexual activity is 16. This statute does not mention consent in any way but manages to remain pretty clear in its intent and meaning. The exception to this law is §16-6-5.1, which makes sexual activity between a teacher and any student under the age of 18 illegal. The law looks pretty close to what most modern people would call common sense. Consent lowers the risk of some illegal actions, such as statutory rape, but it is not a "get out of jail free card" under the law. When the age is beyond consent, the victim may see civil restitution in the form of money for what is called "pain and suffering." That means that consent on the part of the victim can be used as a defense when accused of a crime involving sex. Consent, however, is not a defense when the legal age of consent has not been satisfied.
Some states impose additional requirements on consent, such as a waiting period from the date of consent or an affirmative request for sexual contact. Others may reduce consent to merely a verbal promise from one person to another. The approach in Georgia is clearly more stringent and many Georgians are confused about that. By using the law to ensure that any sexual contact is consensual, the law – and its applicability – is clear. Emotions and social standards are not considered important, meaning that being confused by a decision or feeling a certain way on the issue of consent is not relevant in the eyes of the court. For the law in Georgia, consent must have been 100-percent present in order to be a valid defense to a charge of statutory rape or a similar crime.
As a new state, Georgia was arguably less modern than Europe due to less exposure to European law, philosophy, and culture. That, however, did not mean that European influences could not be felt. Some parts of Georgia’s code of laws contain impressions of existing French and Spanish notions of law. From the French, Georgia appears to have borrowed the idea of a limit on the age of consent. This can be seen in the Code of 1861, which states that anyone who committed adultery with a girl under the age of 12 was guilty of a felony. In the Code of 1868, section 392 included more elements of the ancient French code, which provided a legal age for sexual consent. (§392, Code of 1868).
The first Georgian law that could be considered one of the country’s versions of the age of consent is section 392 of the Code of 1868. In section 892, the Georgian version of France’s Code Napoléon, "carnal knowledge with a female under the age of ten years shall be deemed a felony." This amendment to the code helped address the issue of statutory rape. Despite the language of the law, Georgian lawmakers and courts did not appear to be as focused on protecting potential victims as they were on stopping people from performing sexual acts that could be categorized as sodomy.
By the Code of 1895, statutory rape was at least partially addressed in the law. The new code gave a complex definition of the parameters of a legal age of consent. Consent was not considered to have been legally given where one of the parties to the act had been "at least 10, and less than 16 years of age at the time of the act." This was the state’s current version of the French law and, for the first time in Georgia, consent was defined as having been legally given when the person was 16 years of age.

The Consequences of Breaking Consent Laws

The potential consequences for violating Georgia’s laws on the age of consent can be severe. Both criminal and civil consequences may be brought against the perpetrators of sexual misconduct against minor children.
Under Georgia law, a variety of criminal charges (felony or misdemeanor) may be brought against an adult accused of having a sexual relationship with a minor child. This may include child molestation, statutory rape, sexual battery, aggravated sexual battery, sexual assault with an object, enticement of a child, sexual exploitation of children and cruelty to children.
Criminal charges may be brought against an adult who has sexual relations with anyone under the age of 18, regardless of whether the adult is married or not. Also, an adult who uses a computer to solicit someone under age 18 for immorality may be charged with a felony. Because of federal oversight, many states apply the federal age of majority to sexual offenses. Under federal law, the age of majority is 18.
The severity of the sentence given for sexual misconduct with a minor child depends on the charge and the circumstances surrounding it. If you are convicted of statutory rape in Georgia, then sentencing is dependent on whether you are sentenced to life in prison.
For other types of sexual offenses against or involving children, sentencing penalties may include imprisonment, community service, mandatory registration with the Sexual Offender Registration Review Board, and/or fines.
It is also possible for victims to bring civil lawsuits against those who commit sexual offenses against minor children – either seeking financial compensation for the harm caused by the offense, or seeking to hold other parties legally responsible. For example, in a high school setting, the victim and his or her family may seek to hold the parents or guardians of the perpetrator, the local school board, the principal or the school itself responsible for civil damages.
In short, anyone accused of sexual misconduct with a minor can find themselves facing serious charges – civil and criminal – with equally severe repercussions.

Exceptions and Circumstances

Like most states, Georgia law does provide for several exceptions to the age of consent in Georgia. There are, however, no close-in-age exemptions, commonly known as "Romeo and Juliet" laws. It is NOT a defense to any crime involving consensual sex in Georgia that such sex act was done with a consenting 16 or 17 year old. Gibi v. State, 292 Ga. App. 30, 664 S.E.2d 885 (2008).
The only exceptions to the age of consent in Georgia are: (1) if there is a marriage between the parties, regardless of the ages of the parties involved, in which case the marriage is a defense to the charges; (2) if there is a sound and lasting personal relationship between the parties that is marked by "equity of condition in the enjoyment of a sexual relationship," in which case the relationship is a defense to the charges; (3) if the defendant is married to the alleged victim; and (4) if the defendant is cohabiting with the alleged victim as defined in O.C.G.A. § 16-6-15.
The most common exceptions to the Georgia age of consent laws involve teachers or other person involved in the supervision or care of minors. In his official Commentary on Georgia Senate Bill 1 (which was passed in 2002 and amended in 2014) , Georgia House Representative Tommy Benton noted that "the ages of 16 and 17 should be given some flexibility in our laws for several reasons," including the fact that "Georgia law contains specific language regarding teachers and school employees who engage in sexual relationships with students [and] these relationships are already illegal, therefore making an adjustment in the Georgia Age of Consent Statute unnecessary."
Under Georgia law, a "teacher" is defined as an individual who is employed by or performs regular administrative or instructional parents for the public school system. A "school employee" is defined as "an employee of any public or private primary or secondary school, including but not limited to any supervisory or instructional personnel employed directly by the school system, any contractor or contracted company or organization employee." If a teacher or school employee has sex with a student under the age of 18, the teacher or employee may be charged with sexual assault, which is a felony sex crime in Georgia.

Consent Laws when Compared to Other States

In the context of age of consent laws, Georgia is not much different from most other states in the United States. The only states that have laws that are at least somewhat similar to Georgia’s Code § 16-6-3 are Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, and Ohio. Florida, Louisiana, and Ohio’s laws are almost identical (although Ohio does specify that the age of consent is 16 unless the defendant(s) are within four years of the age of the victim), meaning that in very limited circumstances, having sex with a 12-year-old could consent under certain circumstances.
The states that are different than Georgia are California, like many other states will allow for an exception to the law for marriages that would have been considered consensual in the state at the time. New Mexico has almost the same requirements as Georgia except for the fact that New Mexico does not specify what the punishment is, allowing for what would be tantamount to placing a sentence of hard labor (Georgia could not do this because Georgia’s Code § 16-6-3 requires confinement in a penal institution).
Mississippi has a law similar to Georgia’s Code § 16-6-3, but without the exception for those under 18 that completed high school (however, Code § 16-6-3.2 would apply in this situation, but it is both less serious and has a much shorter statute of limitation). New York, unlike Georgia, requires registration as a sexual offender or sexual predator.
Arizona however, is completely different from Georgia in that one can consent at 15 in the state, and being within three years of the victim’s age is not a defense. However, these requirements come with certain provisions. For example, if a 20-year-old had sex with a 15-year-old, it could be not only considered statutory rape, but also the unapproved use of a computer, both of which have no statute of limitation.

Why Understanding Consent Matters

Beyond the technicalities, understanding consent laws is vital not only for those subject to them but also for families and communities. Education and awareness can be key to prevention efforts. For instance , individuals should know the potential legal ramifications of dating someone significantly younger or pursuing a sexual relationship with a person they may presume to be older, whether due to physical appearance, age of majority or otherwise.