The “Age of Consent” in Nevada – A Guide to What It Means

Nevada’s legal age of consent is 16, as children under 16 are considered legally incapable of consenting to sex. This means that having sex with a person under 16 is a crime, even if that person participates willingly and even if that person initiates the sexual encounter.

That said, Nevada does have a Romeo and Juliet exception that makes it legal for 14- or 15-year-olds to have consensual sex with partners who are less than four years older.

In this article, our Las Vegas criminal defense attorneys will discuss the following topics:

1. Age of Consent in Nevada

Sixteen (16) is the legal age of consent in Nevada. Children under 16 cannot consent to sex, even if they:

Two teenagers in a sexual relationship. <a href=They may fall under NRS 200.364" width="400" height="266" />

Children under the age of 16 in Nevada generally cannot consent to have sex.

2. Romeo and Juliet Law

Nevada has a close-in-age exception that permits children ages 14 and 15 to consent to sex with people less than four years older. Therefore:

Passed in 2015, Nevada’s Romeo and Juliet law is relatively new. It recognizes that it is natural for close-in-age teenagers to explore with each other sexually. 2

3. Statutory Sexual Seduction

The Nevada crime of statutory sexual seduction (statutory rape) occurs when you:

  1. are at least 18 years old,
  2. have consensual penetrative sex with a child aged 14 or 15, and
  3. are at least four years older than the child.

The penalties depend on your age:

Nevada Sentence for Statutory Rape

Note that sexual relations with a minor under 14 years old is always prosecuted as rape or lewdness (discussed in the next section). 3

A 15-year-old in a sexual relationship with an 18-year-old. Which is allowed in Nevada.

Under NRS 200.364, a 14-year can have consensual sex with a 17-year-old.

4. Non-consensual Sex Crimes

Sexual Assault (Rape)

Non-consensual penetrative sex with a child under the age of consent of 16 is always prosecuted as sexual assault (rape) – a category A felony. The penalties turn on whether the victim sustained substantial bodily harm.

Nevada Penalties

If you have a prior conviction of sexual assault or a sexual offense against a child, rape always carries life in prison and Tier III sex offender status. 4

Lewdness With a Minor Under 16

If there was no penetration (such as groping), then non-consensual sexual conduct is prosecuted as lewdness with a minor under 16.

Lewdness With a Minor
Nevada Penalties
The victim is under 14 Category A felony: Life in prison with the possibility of parole after 10 years, up to $10,000, and Tier III sex offender status.
The victim is 15 or 16 Category B felony: 1 – 10 years in prison, up to $10,000, and Tier II sex offender status.

If you have a prior lewdness conviction, there is no possibility parole if the victim was under 14. 5

5. Sex Between Students and Teachers

Consensual sex between students and teachers is prosecuted as statutory rape in Nevada whenever the student is 14 or 15. 9

If the student is at least 16 and therefore old enough to consent, the teacher faces category C felony for exploiting their power imbalance. The penalties are:

6. Legal Defenses

Here at Las Vegas Defense Group, we have represented literally thousands of people charged with sex crimes involving alleged victims under the age of consent. From our experience, the following three defenses have proven very effective with judges, juries, and prosecutors.

  1. You are the victim of false accusations. Children sometimes lie about being victims. Their motivation is often anger, jealousy, revenge, or to change the outcome of a child custody hearing. However, we can often find evidence such as text messages, eyewitnesses, or video surveillance that clearly impeaches the accuser’s credibility and may persuade the D.A. to drop the charge.
  2. The “victim” was at least 16. Sometimes police make a mistake as to the alleged victim’s age, or sometimes the victim lies about being under 16 to get you into trouble. In these cases, we use public records to show the court that the alleged victim was at least the age of consent.
  3. No sexual conduct occurred. Your accuser could have misconstrued any innocent or accidental touching as sexual. Meanwhile, there is rarely any video or eyewitness evidence of alleged sexual encounters for prosecutors to show the court. Therefore, it is often difficult for the D.A. to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that anything illegal happened.

Age of consent defenses

7. Minimum Marrying Age

Nevada’s age of consent to get married is 18. However, 17-year olds may marry if:

8. Raising the Consenting Age

Like Nevada, the majority of U.S. state laws recognize 16 as the age when children can consent to have sex. There is no initiative to raise the consenting age in Nevada at this time. 8

9. Additional Reading

For more in-depth information on the age of consent, refer to these scholarly articles:

Legal References

  1. NRS 200.364(10); NRS 200.368; Manning v. Warden, Nev. State Prison (Nev. 1983) 659 P.2d 847 (“NRS 200.364 now defines statutory sexual seduction and specifies sixteen as the age of consent for sexual intercourse, anal intercourse, cunnilingus or fellatio.”). Jenkins v. State (Nev. 1994) 877 P.2d 1063 ( A mistake of fact regarding the child’s age is not a defense. ).
  2. NRS 200.364; Nevada Assembly Bill 49 (2015). See also Camalot Todd, Health Care Legislature Measure aims to assure STI treatment, contraception for minors without parental consent, Nevada Current (March 15, 2023).
  3. See note 1. Examples of sexual penetration include: Vaginal intercourse, oral sex (fellatio or cunnilingus), anal sex, analingus, fingering, inserting body parts or objects (even just slightly) into a person’s vagina or anus, and penetrative sex with animals.
  4. NRS 200.366.
  5. NRS 201.230.
  6. NRS 201.540. NRS 201.550. NRS 201.520. The “sexual conduct” that NRS 201.540-.550 forbids includes penetrative sex; oral-genital contact; contact with unclothed genitals or pubic area to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of either person; sadomasochistic abuse; lewd exhibition of unclothed genitals; any lewd or lascivious act upon the body.
  7. NRS 129.020; State v. Hughes (Nev. 2011) 261 P.3d 1067 (“The Legislature regularly defines ‘minor’ as a person under 18 years of age.”). Nevada Assembly Bill AB129 (2019).
  8. Other lawmakers in other states are seeking to raise the age of consent to 18. Indiana State Rep. Karlee Macer proposed raising the consenting age from 16 to 18. Emily Ketterer, Bill to raise age of consent proposed again, Nuvo (Jan 5, 2018).

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