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When a fifteen-year-old gets married, would it no longer be statutory rape if her husband chose to have intercourse with her (consensually)? I couldn't really find a clear answer online.

I am of course asking about the US states that allow child marriage to begin with, and under the assumption that the marriage was legal.

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    – feetwet ♦
    Commented Oct 17 at 19:18

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See Kaya Van Roost, Miranda Horn & Alissa Koski, "Child Marriage or Statutory Rape? A Comparison of Law and Practice Across the United States" (2022) 70:3 Journal of Adolescent Health.

States fall into several groups:

  • those that have banned marriage before the age of 18 (e.g. Pennsylvania)
  • those which allow child marriage, but with no marital exception to statutory rape law (e.g. Oregon)
  • those with various degrees of exception to statutory rape law within a marriage (e.g. New York, which exempts all marriages from statutory rape laws)

A map

In 33 states, marital exemptions to statutory rape laws created legal avenues for sexual relationships with children that would have been punishable crimes outside of marriage.

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    I have to wonder if, in reality, in many of the "purple states" where there is no express marital exemption from statutory rape laws, if one wouldn't be implied in law. Usually, marriage under the age of 18 requires either parental consent or court approval in addition to the consent of the parties. Statutorily allowing marriage (particularly in cases where there is judicial approval) yet criminalizing sex within marriage, feels like it would raise constitutional problems. I know that India came to the opposite conclusion, but that involves a lot of different legal system conditions.
    – ohwilleke
    Commented Oct 10 at 20:37
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    To be precise, category 1 is "states where the minimum age of marriage is equal to or greater than the age of consent." That would include e.g. Iowa where both minimum ages are 16, or Nevada, where age of consent is 16 but marriage is 17. Incidentally, the fact that both are blue suggests the chart is obsolete or is answering a different question.
    – user71659
    Commented Oct 11 at 0:47
  • @ohwilleke and then there is the question about marriages executed abroad but the married couple residing (permanently or otherwise) in the US. E.g. I know of a 15 year old boy who was forced to marry an 18 year old friend after getting her pregnant (inadvertently, he had been drugged at the time by someone who is currently in prison). The marriage was under Japanese and French law (the couple's nationalities) but they lived in the US (I think they have since moved to Japan though). The US recognised the marriage, but I'm not sure whether that would give them any legal protection.
    – jwenting
    Commented Oct 11 at 11:57
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    No, that is incorrect. NC's minimum age of marriage is 16 (NCGS 51-2), the age of consent is 16 (NCGS 14‑27.25) yet is colored white on the map. (Age of marriage was raised to 16 in 2021, it was 14 before that, it was never 18. In fact the age of consent law does have a marriage provision.) The map is not showing what you think. You need to reference other data as your assertions are clearly inaccurate. In any case, a "marital exemption is not necessary" is a valid condition, which the authors confusingly did not consider. The article is not trustworthy.
    – user71659
    Commented Oct 12 at 7:39
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    A ton of further examples: most Northeast states (including NY, NJ, MA, CT, VT, NH) plus MI and WA have the minimum age of marriage at 18, yet the aren't white. CA, NM, and OK are white but they have no minimum age, they defer to court approval.
    – user71659
    Commented Oct 12 at 8:20

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