Maryland Romeo and Juliet Law: Age of Consent, Close-in-Age Rules, and Penalties

Overview

Maryland does something few states do: it uses two thresholds simultaneously for the same age band, producing three distinct outcomes rather than the usual two.

For a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old, the question is not just whether the gap reaches four years. It is also whether the older person has reached 21. A gap under four years means no age-based sexual offense. A gap of four years or more where the older person is under 21 is a fourth degree sexual offense, a misdemeanor. Where the older person is 21 or over it is a third degree sexual offense, a felony, regardless of whether the four-year test was the operative one.

So a nineteen-year-old and a fifteen-year-old sits in the misdemeanor band. A twenty-one-year-old and a fifteen-year-old sits in the felony band. The four-year difference between those two defendants moves the case across a misdemeanor-felony line that most states don't have at all in this context.

Maryland then layers a separate statute on top — child sexual abuse under § 3-602 — which reaches minors under 18 where the accused is a household or family member or has permanent or temporary care, custody, or responsibility for the child. That provision has no gap requirement and carries exposure measured in decades.

1. Does Maryland Have a Romeo and Juliet Law?

Functionally yes — a four-year threshold is written into the sexual offense provisions for 14- and 15-year-olds, and below it there is no age-based sexual offense. But Maryland pairs it with a second, absolute threshold at 21, and the two interact to produce three outcomes rather than two. A gap under four years means no offense on the age element. A gap of four or more years where the older person is under 21 is a fourth degree sexual offense under § 3-308, a misdemeanor carrying up to one year. Where the older person is 21 or over, it is a third degree sexual offense under § 3-307, a felony carrying up to ten years. That middle band — misdemeanor treatment for a four-plus-year gap where the older person is under 21 — is unusually favorable compared with neighbouring states.

2. Age of Consent in Maryland

Sixteen. A person 16 or older can generally consent to sexual activity in Maryland, subject to § 3-602 and the position-of-authority provisions. Below 16, the structure runs as follows. Rape in the second degree (§ 3-304) includes a vaginal intercourse or sexual act where the victim is under 14 and the person is at least four years older — a felony carrying up to twenty years. Sexual offense in the third degree (§ 3-307) includes a sexual act or sexual contact where the victim is 14 or 15 and the person is at least 21, and sexual contact where the victim is under 14 and the person is at least four years older — a felony carrying up to ten years. Sexual offense in the fourth degree (§ 3-308) includes a sexual act or sexual contact where the victim is 14 or 15 and the person is at least four years older — a misdemeanor carrying up to one year; this subsection also reaches persons in positions of authority with respect to minors. Child sexual abuse (§ 3-602) covers sexual abuse of a minor under 18 by a parent, household or family member, or a person with permanent or temporary care, custody, or responsibility for supervision — a felony with substantially higher exposure.

3. Close-in-Age Exception Explained

Setting the outcomes side by side makes the structure clear. For a victim under 14, the four-year threshold applies but once crossed there is no misdemeanor option — second degree rape or third degree sexual offense follows depending on the conduct. For a victim aged 14 or 15, there are three outcomes: no age offense below four years, a fourth degree misdemeanor at four or more years where the actor is under 21, and a third degree felony once the actor reaches 21. For a victim aged 16 or 17, there is no age-based offense at all. The 14-and-15 row is where Maryland's design shows; the under-14 row is where Maryland is unforgiving.

4. Legal Age Gap Rules

Two numbers govern, and they are measured differently. The four-year figure is a gap, measured between the parties. The 21 figure is absolute, measured on the older person alone — which means a defendant's own twenty-first birthday can move a case from a one-year misdemeanor to a ten-year felony without anything about the relationship changing. Where a defendant's twenty-first birthday falls near the conduct, exact dates decide the case. Above 16 neither threshold produces an age-based offense, but § 3-602 continues to reach minors under 18 wherever a family, household, or caretaker relationship exists.

Child Sexual Abuse: The Provision That Overrides Everything

Section 3-602 deserves separate attention because it operates on a completely different logic from the age-gap provisions.

It applies where the accused is a parent, household member, or family member, or has permanent or temporary care, custody, or responsibility for supervision of a minor under 18. There is no age-gap requirement, no age-of-consent safe harbor, and the exposure is substantially greater than under the sexual offense degrees.

The category is broader than people expect. “Temporary care or responsibility for supervision” reaches babysitters, coaches, tutors, camp staff, and adults supervising a friend's child for an afternoon. A young adult living in the same household as a sixteen-year-old is potentially within it despite the sixteen-year-old being at the age of consent.

For anyone in Maryland whose situation involves a household, family, or supervisory connection, this statute — not the four-year rule — is the operative one.

Mistake of Age

Maryland does not provide a general reasonable-belief defense for these offenses. A defendant's belief about the other person's age does not defeat the age element.

Marriage

Maryland raised its minimum marriage age in 2022, setting a floor of 17 with judicial or parental requirements and eliminating marriage below that age. Older material describing Maryland as permitting marriage at 15 is out of date.

5. What Is Not Protected?

The four-year rule addresses one element of one set of provisions. Several things sit outside it entirely.

• Section 3-602. Household, family, and caretaker relationships, reaching minors under 18 with no gap requirement.
• Positions of authority. Section 3-308 includes provisions reaching persons in positions of authority over minors.
• The under-14 band. The four-year threshold applies there, but crossing it means felony exposure with no misdemeanor option.
• Explicit images. Maryland's child pornography provisions use 18 as the threshold. Maryland's appellate courts have addressed whether these provisions reach a minor who produces images of themselves, and the answer has not favored the assumption that minors are exempt. Two Maryland sixteen-year-olds — both at the age of consent — face real exposure for producing or exchanging images, and the four-year rule offers nothing.
• Force, threat, or incapacity. The first and second degree provisions operate independently of age.
• Conduct in another state or the District. Maryland borders Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Delaware, Virginia, and D.C. all differ from Maryland, and the Washington and Wilmington metropolitan areas cross those lines constantly. The governing law is that of the place where the conduct occurred. Using a phone or the internet to arrange a meeting can trigger 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b) and its ten-year mandatory minimum.

6. Examples

7. Possible Penalties

Maryland also attaches mandatory minimum provisions in defined circumstances, particularly for repeat offenses and for offenses involving very young victims. Confirm current terms with counsel.

8. Sex Offender Registration Risk

Maryland registers under Md. Criminal Procedure § 11-701 et seq., using a three-tier system with terms of fifteen years, twenty-five years, or lifetime. Maryland has an important constitutional history here. The Maryland high court has held that applying registration requirements retroactively — to people whose offenses predated the requirement — violates the prohibition on ex post facto laws in the Maryland Declaration of Rights. That ruling means registration obligations in Maryland can depend on when the conduct occurred, not only on the offense of conviction, and it has generated ongoing litigation about the scope of the principle. Tier assignment follows from the offense, which makes the misdemeanor-versus-felony distinction in the 14-and-15 band consequential well beyond the sentence. Raise it explicitly in plea discussions. Maryland also permits certain registrants to petition for termination after a qualifying period, subject to eligibility restrictions.

Statutes of Limitation

Maryland has no limitation period for felony prosecutions, and has extended or eliminated periods for offenses involving minors. Misdemeanors carry limitation periods, which is one more consequence of the misdemeanor-felony line in the 14-and-15 band. Confirm the applicable rule with counsel.

9. Official Statute Sources

Primary Maryland statutes and official government resources cited in this guide. Look each citation up on your state legislature's official website for the current text:

• Maryland Code, Criminal Law — Rape in the second degree
  Md. Code, Crim. Law § 3-304
• Maryland Code, Criminal Law — Sexual offense in the third degree
  Md. Code, Crim. Law § 3-307
• Maryland Code, Criminal Law — Sexual offense in the fourth degree
  Md. Code, Crim. Law § 3-308
• Maryland Code, Criminal Law — Sexual abuse of a minor
  Md. Code, Crim. Law § 3-602
• Maryland Code, Criminal Procedure — Sex offender registration
  Md. Code, Crim. Proc. § 11-701 et seq.
• Maryland General Assembly — Official Maryland Code
  Maryland General Assembly
• U.S. Department of Justice — Citizen's Guide to U.S. Federal Law on the Sexual Abuse of Minors
  U.S. Dept. of Justice, Criminal Division

10. When to Talk to a Lawyer

Before speaking with police or Department of Social Services investigators, including in conversations framed as routine. Maryland presents a specific hazard. Someone who knows about the four-year rule may volunteer details to an investigator believing the gap clears them — and in describing living arrangements, coaching, or babysitting, establish the § 3-602 caretaker relationship that carries far heavier exposure than anything the four-year rule addresses. The second pressure point is the 21 threshold, which determines whether a case is a misdemeanor or a felony and therefore whether registration attaches. Where a defendant's twenty-first birthday falls near the conduct, exact dates decide the case.