Sources & Citations
Start with the linked legal resources below. State guides also identify their specific statutory references and provide direct links where available.
Sources & Legal Citations
Background legal resources; each has its own scope and does not establish every statement on this page. Check the version and effective date of a statute before relying on a summary.
- Directory of state legal materials; select a jurisdiction to find its code.
- Federal sexual-abuse statute; its federal jurisdiction and elements differ from state law.
- Citizen's guide to federal law concerning sexual images of minors.
- Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).
Reading a citation
Follow an article's direct statute link when available. For a citation without a direct link, use the state law directory above to locate the official code, then search its section number. Check definitions, exceptions, effective dates, and later amendments.
Scope of a source
Federal materials describe federal law; they do not establish every state's age-of-consent rules. A directory helps locate the law and is not itself evidence for a particular legal conclusion.