The Tennessee Legal Age of Consent for sexual contact is 18 years old. A total of eleven states, including TN, have set their age of consent at 18 years old, which is the highest legal age of consent in any state.
Statutory rape in Tennessee is sexual penetration of a victim by the defendant or of the defendant by the victim when the victim is between 13 and 18 years of age and the defendant is at least four (4) years older than the victim. Thus, a similar-in-age exemption is created for defendants no more then four years older then their partner.
Tennessee has a close-in-age exemption, also known as a "Romeo and Juliet law", to the legal age of consent. This provision allows partners who are close in age, or both under the Tennessee age of consent, to engage in consensual sex without fear of prosecution under Tennessee age of consent regulations. For more information, read about close-in-age exemptions.
The Age of Consent is the age at which a person is deemed by Tennessee law to be capable of consenting to, and engaging in, sexual acts. Anyone who engages in sexual activity of any type with a partner under the applicable Age of Consent is breaking the law and can be charged with crimes ranging from a misdemeanor to a felony (statutory rape) depending on the jurisdiction in which they are prosecuted. Tennessee's specific laws on the Age of Consent can be found above.
If you engage in sexual activity with a minor who is under the Tennessee Age of Consent of 18, you can be prosecuted under Tennessee sexual abuse laws and charged with crimes ranging from sexual assault or statutory rape to first degree rape, regardless of whether or not the sexual acts were consensual. Depending on the charges, conviction can carry penalties ranging from one to fifty years in prison and registration as a sex offender .
It is important to note that Tennessee's Age of Consent does not apply to "sexting", or transmission of explicit photos or video. Producing or receiving explicit photos of minors (any person under age 18) is illegal in Tennessee, and all other states, under child pornography laws.
Because the Tennessee Age of Consent is also eighteen years old, people who have reached the legal age of consent are also legally allowed to participate in sexting.
Possession of explicit images of an underage person is also illegal under Federal law, and while minors are not typically prosecuted for possession, adults are frequently prosecuted for producing, possessing, receiving, or distributing underage pornography.
In most states, the travel or transportation of a minor over state lines with the intention of engaging in sexual activity is in itself a severe misdemeanor or felony. As a result, it is generally not possible to evade a state's age of consent rules by travelling to a different state.
Map of Ages of Consent by State