The age of consent is the age at which an individual may legally consent to sexual acts, of either a heterosexual or a homosexual nature. The age of consent for heterosexual sex in Hawaii is 16 for both men and women. Someone who is 14 may consent to sex in Hawaii with an individual who is no more than 19.  There is no age of consent for sex between two women or two men, since the U.S. Supreme court has overturned the Hawaiian law.

A number of other U.S. states also set the age of consent at 16 years old, including West Virginia, Vermont, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Nevada, New Hampshire, Mississippi and Michigan. In fact, 16 is the most common age of consent in the U.S. Several states set the age of consent at 18 years of age for both sexes, including Wisconsin, North Dakota, Oregon and Tennessee. A total of 8 states have different ages of consent for men and women: Delaware Idaho, Iowa, Massachusetts, Montana, South Carolina, Utah and Wyoming. The youngest age of consent is shared by Iowa and South Carolina, where the age of consent is 14 for women and 16 for men.

You must be 18 years old to legally marry without your parent’s consent, under the Hawaii age of consent laws. Individuals aged 16 or 17 may marry with the written consent of their parents, legal guardian or the family court. If you are 15 years old, you must have both the permission of your parents or guardian, and the family court. The necessary consent forms are available from the marriage license agent.

Under the Hawaii age of consent laws, it is first-degree sexual assault to knowingly engage in sexual penetration with someone under the age of 14, or with someone under the age of 14 when the offender is more than 5 years older than the victim is. This crime carries a sentence of 20 years in state prison, under Hawaiian law.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, November 9th, 2006 at 12:36 pm and is filed under Age of Consent Laws, Family Laws. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.