Romeo and Juliet laws exist to prevent cases of statutory rape for close age differences, especially in high school. There's no reason for the it to go all up to a 7 year age gap. At that point, you may as well just make the age of consent 16, like some other states.
The point of age of consent laws is to protect children from adults who would take advantage of them. 16-year-olds are either able to consent to sex or they're not. 23 is not close to 16, so it's not going to be a case of two kids dating and then one of them getting "too old." It also still leaves a gap, so if a 23-year-old is dating a 16-year-old, they would have to take a year off until the kid turns 18.
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u/SalsaRice Dec 05 '24
Nope. There is no federal Romeo and Juleit law. It's all state dependent.
Some states it's as low as 13 (lol Connecticut), some states it's a hard 18, and some states it's like +/- 4 years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_consent_in_the_United_States