Arkansas Romeo and Juliet Law: Age Gap, Defense, and Penalties

Arkansas does not have a single statute called a Romeo and Juliet law, but its criminal code contains age-proximity affirmative defenses tucked inside several sex offense statutes. These defenses can defeat what would otherwise be a serious felony when the two people are close in age. The protection is narrower than many people assume: it applies to conduct involving someone under 14, the allowed gap is either three or four years depending on the charge, and in some situations the older person must also still be a minor.

The Age Gap That Protects You

The allowed gap is not a single number. It depends on which statute the prosecutor charges and how old the younger person is.

For sexual contact charged under Arkansas Code § 5-14-125, the line sits at age 12. If the younger person is under 12, the older person must be no more than three years older. If the younger person is 12 or 13, the gap can be up to four years.¹

For sexual intercourse charged under § 5-14-126, the gap is three years, regardless of the younger person’s exact age under 14.²

For rape under § 5-14-103 involving a victim under 14, the same three-year limit applies.³

The statutory phrase is “not more than.” Someone who is exactly three or four years older still qualifies. Someone who exceeds the gap by a day does not. Courts calculate from exact birth dates, with no rounding.

Who Can Use the Defense

For several of these charges, the defense is written only for defendants who were also minors at the time. Under § 5-14-125(a)(5), the sexual contact proximity defense is available when the actor is a minor. An adult 18 or older who engages in sexual contact with someone under 14 is charged under subsection (a)(3), which carries no affirmative defense at all. The same structure appears in § 5-14-126(a)(2) for sexual intercourse.¹

Turning 18 before the incident can therefore eliminate the defense for certain charges, even when the age gap is small.

When the Defense Does Not Apply

Several situations strip the proximity defense out entirely, even when the ages would otherwise line up.

Force, Incapacity, or Lack of Consent

The proximity defense exists only inside the subsections that address age-based offenses between peers. If the conduct involved force, the charge falls under § 5-14-125(a)(1) or § 5-14-103(a)(1), and no proximity defense is written into those subsections. The same is true when the younger person was physically helpless or mentally incapacitated.¹

Positions of Trust or Authority

When the older person is a guardian, school employee, temporary caretaker, mandated reporter, or otherwise in a position of trust over the younger person, the conduct is charged under § 5-14-125(a)(4) as a Class B felony, and consent is not a defense.¹

A separate statute, § 5-14-124, covers sexual assault in the first degree by teachers, principals, coaches, counselors, and others who use a position of trust to engage in intercourse with a student under 21. That is a Class A felony. A narrow three-year defense exists in § 5-14-124(c), but it reaches only certain temporary caretaker and school employee situations, not the teacher, principal, or coach categories.⁴

When the Younger Person Is 14 or 15

A boundary worth flagging because the proximity rules do not reach it: these defenses apply to charges involving a younger person under 14. For someone 14 or 15, a different statute governs. Sexual assault in the fourth degree under § 5-14-127 only applies when the older person is 20 or older, so an 18- or 19-year-old is generally not charged for consensual activity with a 14- or 15-year-old, assuming no force and no position of authority.⁵

You Have to Prove It

Because the proximity defense is an affirmative defense, the burden sits on the defendant, not the prosecution. Under § 5-1-111, a person raising an affirmative defense must prove it by a preponderance of the evidence, meaning more likely than not.⁶

That is a lower bar than the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard the state carries, but it still demands concrete evidence. Birth certificates, school records, and other official documents establishing both parties’ exact dates of birth are the most important proof. If the defendant cannot produce reliable proof of the gap, the defense fails.

If it succeeds, the result is acquittal on that charge. The defense does not reduce the charge to a lesser offense. It defeats the charge outright.

What’s at Stake If the Defense Fails

The classifications behind these charges show why the proximity defense matters.

Sexual assault in the second degree under § 5-14-125 is normally a Class B felony. When both parties are minors and the younger person is under 14, it drops to a Class D felony.¹ Sexual assault in the third degree under § 5-14-126 is a Class C felony.²

Arkansas sentencing law sets the following prison exposure:

Fines for either class can reach $10,000.⁸

Rape under § 5-14-103 involving a victim under 14 is a Class Y felony with a minimum sentence of 25 years. When that is the charge, a three-year proximity defense is the difference between acquittal and decades in prison.³

Common Scenarios

Because the thresholds shift with the charge and the ages, abstract rules only get you so far. A few concrete patterns:

Two minors, both 14 or older. No sex offense statute applies to consensual activity between them, assuming no force and no position of trust. The statutes discussed here target conduct involving someone under 14.
An 18- or 19-year-old with a 14- or 15-year-old. Section 5-14-127 only reaches actors 20 or older, so no charge typically applies to consensual activity in this situation.⁵
A 16-year-old with a 12-year-old. For sexual contact under § 5-14-125, the four-year gap is available because the younger person is 12 or older, and four years is within the limit. For intercourse under § 5-14-126, only three years is allowed, so the defense would fail.
A 15-year-old with an 11-year-old. The three-year limit applies because the younger person is under 12. A four-year gap does not qualify here, even though four years is the limit when the younger person is older.
A 20-year-old with a 15-year-old. Section 5-14-127 applies, and it carries no proximity defense. The offense is a Class D felony for intercourse and a Class A misdemeanor for sexual contact.⁵

Sex Offender Registration if Convicted

When the proximity defense works, there is an acquittal and no registration. When it fails and a conviction follows, registration under the Arkansas Sex Offender Registration Act generally applies.⁹

Juvenile cases work differently. Under § 9-27-356, registration is not automatic for a juvenile adjudicated delinquent for a sex offense. The juvenile court decides after a recommendation from the Sex Offender Assessment Committee and a hearing. A juvenile can petition for removal while the court still has jurisdiction or after turning 21, whichever is later, and the name comes off if the court finds the juvenile does not pose a threat. Otherwise, registration lasts ten years from the last delinquency adjudication or until age 21, whichever is longer.¹⁰

1
Justia Law. Arkansas Code 5-14-125 – Sexual Assault in the Second Degree
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Justia Law. Arkansas Code 5-14-126 – Sexual Assault in the Third Degree
3
FindLaw. Arkansas Code Title 5 Criminal Offenses 5-14-103 – Rape
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FindLaw. Arkansas Code Title 5 Criminal Offenses 5-14-124 – Sexual Assault in the First Degree
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FindLaw. Arkansas Code Title 5 Criminal Offenses 5-14-127 – Sexual Assault in the Fourth Degree
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FindLaw. Arkansas Code Title 5 Criminal Offenses 5-1-111 – Affirmative Defenses, Presumptions, Burden of Proof
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Justia Law. Arkansas Code 5-4-401 – Sentence
8
Justia Law. Arkansas Code 5-4-201 – Fines, Limitations on Amount
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Arkansas Crime Information Center. Arkansas Sex Offender Registry Search
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FindLaw. Arkansas Code Title 9 Family Law 9-27-356 – Juvenile Sex Offender Registration