Wisconsin law states it illegal for a person to have consensual sexual relations with a minor younger than 18. Anyone who engages in such unlawful conduct can face charges for sexual assault of a child, sexual intercourse with a child aged 16 or older, or underage sexual activity. These age-based offenses are commonly known as statutory rape.

Romeo and Juliet laws are designed to reduce or negate the penalties for statutory rape when two consenting teenagers engage in sexual activity. The general concept of those types of laws are to prevent someone who is in a pre-existing relationship from having to register as a sex offender.

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Does Wisconsin Have Rome and Juliet Laws?

There are approximately 30 states that have a Romeo and Juliet law in some form, Wisconsin is not one of those states. Furthermore, even if someone visits Wisconsin from a state that did have Romeo and Juliet laws, it is still illegal to engage in that type of conduct while in Wisconsin. This means there are no specific carve outs for teenagers to engage in sexual acts with each other.

Statutory Exemptions in Wisconsin

Similar to how there is no Romeo and Juliet law in Wisconsin, there is also no “close in age” exemptions either. In Wisconsin, it boils down to the exact age of the person and whether or not they are over 18. Additionally, knowledge of the other party’s age is not a requirement to be charged. Meaning even if someone did not ask how old the other person is before engaging in sexual conduct, that is not a defense if they ultimately are not of the age of consent.

Though there are no exemptions, there are some built-in mitigators that can reduce certain charges. For example, possession of child pornography is a class D felony, but if someone under 18 had sexually explicit images of someone close in age who is also under 18, it can be reduced to a class I felony. This would result in a reduction of prison time and reduced fines.

Section 301.45(1m) of Wisconsin law also sets exceptions for when an underage person would not have to be put on the sex offender registry. That can only apply in certain situations such as the offense being non-violent and not involving sexual intercourse.

Can an 18-Year-Old Date a 16-Year-Old in Wisconsin?

Wisconsin law does not prohibit an 18-year-old from dating a 16-year-old. Legally, there isn’t a problem with that, depending on the definition of dating. If dating were to include sexual acts, there would be an issue. Wisconsin law does prohibit someone over 18 from partaking in even consensual sexual acts with someone under 18.

Sexual acts include sending or receiving sexually explicit pictures from someone underage. If a sexual picture is of an underage person, sending that picture can be considered as child pornography. And, sending a sexually explicit picture to someone who is underage could potentially be a felony as well for exposing a child to harmful material.

Age of Majority in Wisconsin

In general, anyone under 18 is considered a minor when it comes to sexual acts. So, if someone is over the age of 18, they can consent to any sexual contact.

However, there are some further clarifications that can be made. For example, someone under 18 but over 16 can consent to sexual contact that is not intercourse. This means if one person is 18 and their partner is 16 or older, there can be sexual contact, but no intercourse. No matter what the situation though, someone under 16 cannot engage in any type of sexual contact.