Sexual Assault of a Child in Texas: Offenses and Penalties

Sexual assault of a child in Texas is a felony that carries anywhere from 2 years to life in prison, depending on the child’s age and what happened. Texas sets the age of consent at 17, so any sexual contact with someone below that age is a crime regardless of what the younger person said or did. There is no statute of limitations on these charges, and a conviction almost always brings lifetime registration as a sex offender.

Sexual Assault of a Child

Penal Code Section 22.011 defines the base offense. A person commits sexual assault of a child by intentionally causing any penetration of a child younger than 17, oral contact with the child’s sexual organs, or contact between the child’s sexual organs and another person’s body. The perpetrator does not need to know the child’s age. Consent is legally impossible.¹

The offense is a second-degree felony. Punishment is 2 to 20 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.² It jumps to a first-degree felony if the perpetrator was related to the child by blood or marriage in a way that would have violated Texas incest laws.¹

Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child

Penal Code Section 22.021 raises the charge to aggravated sexual assault under several circumstances. The most common trigger is the child’s age. Any sexual assault of a child younger than 14 is automatically aggravated, even without force. For a child between 14 and 16, the charge becomes aggravated when the perpetrator used physical force, threatened death or serious injury, used a deadly weapon, or acted together with another person.³

Aggravated sexual assault of a child is a first-degree felony punishable by 5 to 99 years in prison, or life.⁴ In the worst cases the minimum jumps to 25 years. That enhanced 25-year floor applies when the child was younger than 10, or when the child was younger than 14 and the offense involved force, threats, a weapon, or drugging the child.³ The ordinary 5-year floor for first-degree felonies is off the table once those provisions apply.

Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Young Child

Penal Code Section 21.02 targets repeat offenders who abuse the same child over time. The offense requires two or more sexual acts against a child younger than 14 during a period of 30 days or more. The acts can be any combination of sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, or indecency by contact, and they don’t need to be identical.⁵

The statute exists because children who suffer repeated abuse rarely remember exact dates. Jurors don’t have to agree on which specific days the acts happened. They only have to agree unanimously that at least two qualifying acts occurred over a stretch of 30 days or more. It’s a first-degree felony with a 25-year minimum and a maximum of 99 years or life. No probation. No sentence below 25 years.⁵

Indecency With a Child

Sexual conduct that stops short of the penetration required for sexual assault is charged under Penal Code Section 21.11. It splits into two offenses.

Indecency by contact means touching the child’s breast, genitals, or anus (including through clothing) with intent to arouse or gratify sexual desire, or causing the child to touch the perpetrator’s body in the same way. It is a second-degree felony carrying 2 to 20 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.⁶

Indecency by exposure covers exposing the genitals or anus to a child with sexual intent, or causing the child to expose themselves. It is a third-degree felony, 2 to 10 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.⁷

The Close-in-Age Defense

Texas provides one narrow affirmative defense for young people in consensual relationships. It applies when the older person was no more than three years older than the younger, the younger person was at least 14, and the older person was not already a registered sex offender or previously convicted of a sexual offense.¹ The defense doesn’t apply to any aggravated offense, or where the older person used force, threats, or a position of authority over the child.

No Statute of Limitations

Charges can be filed at any point, even decades later. Under Code of Criminal Procedure Article 12.01, there is no time limit on prosecuting sexual assault of a child, aggravated sexual assault of a child, continuous sexual abuse of a young child, or indecency with a child.⁸ A survivor who couldn’t come forward as a child can still pursue criminal prosecution as an adult, provided evidence is available.

Sex Offender Registration After Conviction

Conviction for nearly any sexual offense against a child triggers mandatory registration under Chapter 62 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Registrants must give local law enforcement their home address, employment location, and vehicle information, and update that information whenever it changes. For sexual assault of a child, aggravated sexual assault, continuous sexual abuse, and indecency by contact, registration lasts for life.⁹

Registrants also have to verify their information in person on a schedule set by their offense and risk classification. Skipping a verification, or moving without updating, is itself a felony. The registry is public, so anyone can look up a registrant’s history.

A narrow path to removal exists under Article 62.403 for people with a single qualifying conviction whose federal registration term would be shorter than the Texas lifetime term. It requires an individual risk assessment through the Council on Sex Offender Treatment, and approval is not automatic. People with more than one conviction can’t apply.⁹

Civil Lawsuits by Survivors

A criminal case is not the only route. Survivors can sue for money damages under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.0045, which gives them 30 years from the date of the harm to file a personal injury claim arising from sexual assault of a child, aggravated sexual assault of a child, continuous sexual abuse, indecency with a child, or certain trafficking offenses.¹⁰

A civil suit can name the person who committed the abuse. It can also reach institutions that enabled it: schools, churches, youth organizations, and other entities that failed to run background checks, ignored reports of misconduct, or kept an accused person in a role with access to children. Because civil cases use a lower burden of proof than criminal ones, a lawsuit can succeed even when a criminal case does not end in a conviction.

1
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 22.011 – Sexual Assault
2
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.33 – Second Degree Felony Punishment
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State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 22.021 – Aggravated Sexual Assault
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State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.32 – First Degree Felony Punishment
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State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 21.02 – Continuous Sexual Abuse of Young Child or Disabled Individual
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State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 21.11 – Indecency With a Child
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State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.34 – Third Degree Felony Punishment
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State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Art 12.01 – Felonies
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Texas Sex Offender Registry. Texas SORNA Registration Requirements
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State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 16.0045 – Limitations Period for Claims Arising From Certain Offenses