The age of consent in Delaware is 16. Sexual intercourse with anyone younger is a felony under the state’s rape statutes, no matter how willing the younger person was. There is also a second age line most people miss: even after someone turns 16, intercourse with a person under 18 is a Class C felony if the older party is 30 or older and the two are not married.1Justia Law. Delaware Code Title 11 Section 770 – Rape in the Fourth Degree; Class C Felony
There Is No Romeo and Juliet Exception
Delaware does not have a close-in-age exemption. A 17-year-old who has intercourse with a 15-year-old can technically be charged with the same fourth-degree rape offense as an adult in the same situation. Prosecutors have discretion, and age proximity influences how cases are actually handled, but the statute itself provides no automatic safe harbor for peer relationships.
What Delaware does instead is scale the severity of the charge to the age gap. A small gap keeps the case at the lowest degree; a large gap or a very young victim moves it up the ladder into charges that carry mandatory prison time.
How the Charge Scales
Delaware’s rape statute has four degrees. Which one applies depends on the victim’s age, the age gap between the two people, and whether anything aggravating happened during the offense.
Fourth Degree
This is the baseline age-of-consent charge. It covers sexual intercourse with anyone under 16, and it also covers intercourse with a person under 18 when the defendant is 30 or older.1Justia Law. Delaware Code Title 11 Section 770 – Rape in the Fourth Degree; Class C Felony It is a Class C felony carrying up to 15 years in prison.2Delaware Code Online. Delaware Code Title 11 Chapter 42 – Sentencing
Third Degree
The charge moves up when there is a significant age gap. Third-degree rape applies when the victim is under 16 and the defendant is at least 10 years older, or when the victim is under 14 and the defendant is 19 or older. It also applies when sexual penetration without consent causes physical injury.3Justia Law. Delaware Code Title 11 Section 771 – Rape in the Third Degree; Class B Felony It is a Class B felony, 2 to 25 years.4Justia Law. Delaware Code Title 11 Section 4205 – Sentence for Felonies If the offense results in the birth of a child, any probation must include a child-support order.
Second Degree
Second-degree rape covers cases where the victim is under 16 and the defendant causes serious physical injury, or where the defendant displays a weapon during the offense. It is a Class B felony, but carries a mandatory minimum of 10 years.5Justia Law. Delaware Code Title 11 Section 772 – Rape in the Second Degree; Class B Felony
First Degree
First-degree rape is reserved for the most serious circumstances: intercourse without consent that causes physical injury, intercourse facilitated by another felony, intercourse involving a displayed weapon or multiple perpetrators, or intercourse with a victim under 12 when the defendant is 18 or older.6Justia Law. Delaware Code Title 11 Section 773 – Rape in the First Degree; Class A Felony It is a Class A felony carrying 15 years to life,4Justia Law. Delaware Code Title 11 Section 4205 – Sentence for Felonies and can escalate to life without parole in defined aggravating scenarios, including cases where the victim was under 16 and suffered serious physical injury.
Mistake About the Person’s Age Is Not a Defense
This is the part that catches defendants off guard. Under Section 762, when the criminality of the sexual conduct depends on whether the other person had reached their sixteenth birthday, it is no defense that the defendant did not know the person’s age or reasonably believed they were 16 or older.7Justia Law. Delaware Code Title 11 Section 762 – Provisions Generally Applicable to Sexual Offenses
A fake ID does not matter. The minor lying about their age does not matter. Looking older does not matter. This is strict liability on the age element, and it is one of the sharpest edges of Delaware’s law.
Sexual Contact Short of Intercourse
Age-based liability in Delaware does not stop at intercourse. Unlawful sexual contact is a separate set of offenses, and the second-degree version is broad: any intentional sexual contact with someone under 18 is a Class F felony, regardless of the defendant’s age or any claim of consent.8Delaware Code Online. Delaware Code Title 11 Chapter 5 Subchapter II – Sexual Offenses First-degree unlawful sexual contact is a Class D felony and applies when the child is under 13 or when the contact involves physical injury or a weapon. Third-degree unlawful sexual contact, a Class A misdemeanor, covers offensive or nonconsensual contact generally.
Sex Offender Registration Follows a Conviction
A conviction for any of these offenses triggers mandatory sex offender registration. Delaware uses a three-tier system, with in-person address verification required every 12 months at Tier I, every 6 months at Tier II, and every 90 days for life at Tier III. Tier I and II registrants can petition the Superior Court for relief; Tier III registrants have no statutory off-ramp.9Justia Law. Delaware Code Title 11 Section 4120 – Registration of Sex Offenders
Registration has knock-on effects beyond the courthouse. It can restrict where a person lives, limit employment, and place their information on publicly searchable databases. For someone convicted of fourth-degree rape stemming from what both parties considered a consensual encounter, registration is often the most life-altering piece of the sentence.
Anyone Who Knows Has to Report
Delaware’s mandatory reporting law is written broadly. Under Title 16, Section 903, any person, agency, organization, or entity that knows or in good faith suspects child abuse or neglect must make a report. The statute names physicians, nurses, medical examiners, other healthcare providers, school employees, social workers, psychologists, hospitals, and law enforcement, but the duty is not limited to those roles.10Child Welfare Information Gateway. Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse and Neglect – Delaware
Practically, that means a parent, neighbor, coach, or employer who learns of a sexual relationship involving someone under 16 has a legal duty to report it. Whether the activity looked consensual is beside the point, because a child under 16 cannot legally consent.
Civil Suits Are a Separate Track
Criminal prosecution is not the only avenue. Survivors of childhood sexual abuse in Delaware can also file civil lawsuits for monetary damages. Delaware’s Child Victims Act allows survivors whose claims were previously barred by an expired statute of limitations to bring them at any time, with retroactive application.11Delaware General Assembly. HB417 – Child Victims Act
Civil cases use a lower standard of proof than criminal cases and can produce compensatory damages for therapy, medical costs, lost income, and emotional distress, with punitive damages available in egregious cases. A civil judgment carries no prison time, but it offers a route to financial recovery and accountability that the criminal system sometimes does not.