Romeo and Juliet Law Maryland

Maryland has no statute called a Romeo and Juliet law. The sections of the Maryland Criminal Law Article that govern age-based sexual offenses contain age-gap thresholds, not a close-in-age provision that makes covered conduct lawful. Those thresholds, chiefly the 4-year gap that appears in Md. Code, Crim. Law §§ 3-304, 3-307, and 3-308 and the age-21 threshold in § 3-307, decide which section applies to a set of facts and how the resulting offense is graded. That is a different function from the one people usually have in mind when they use the phrase. When an age gap falls below a threshold, the result may be that a different section applies, not that the conduct sits outside the code. Anyone working from a close-in-age idea picked up from another state, or from general internet material, is relying on an assumption that Maryland’s text does not support. If you need these sections applied to a specific set of facts, Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C. can be reached at (888) 437-7747.

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What Maryland’s Code Contains Instead

The age-based sections are built from two ingredients: an age for the younger person and a condition attached to the older person.

Md. Code, Crim. Law § 3-304, rape in the second degree, includes vaginal intercourse or a sexual act where the victim is under 14 and the actor is at least 4 years older. It is a felony carrying imprisonment not exceeding 20 years.

Md. Code, Crim. Law § 3-307, sexual offense in the third degree, includes sexual contact with a victim under 14 where the actor is at least 4 years older, and it also includes a sexual act or vaginal intercourse with a victim who is 14 or 15 where the actor is at least 21. It is a felony carrying imprisonment not exceeding 10 years.

Md. Code, Crim. Law § 3-308, sexual offense in the fourth degree, includes a sexual act or vaginal intercourse with a victim who is 14 or 15 where the actor is at least 4 years older. It is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 1 year or a $1,000 fine, enhanced to 3 years for a defendant with specified priors.

None of these sections is written as a close-in-age provision, and none of them treats a narrow age gap as a reason that the code stops applying.

How a Below-Threshold Age Gap Actually Operates

The clearest way to see the difference is to follow what happens when a threshold is not met. Where the younger person is 14 or 15, § 3-308 attaches to an actor who is at least 4 years older. If the gap is smaller than that, the specific route through § 3-308 that depends on the 4-year gap is not the one the facts engage. That is a statement about one section, and nothing more.

The age-21 threshold in § 3-307 works the same way in reverse. It reaches an actor who is at least 21 where the younger person is 14 or 15, regardless of how the gap compares to 4 years. An older person whose age clears 21 can engage a felony section on facts where the gap alone would have pointed to the misdemeanor section, and that is a grading consequence rather than an exemption from anything.

Anyone reading older material should know that §§ 3-305 and 3-306 were repealed, and current statutes reference them only as they existed before October 1, 2017, so they are not current charging authority. A conviction can also raise a separate registration question: Md. Code, Crim. Proc. § 11-701 sets out tier I, tier II, and tier III classifications, and Md. Code, Crim. Proc. § 11-704 identifies the persons required to register.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Maryland have a Romeo and Juliet law?

Maryland has no statute by that name. The phrase is popular shorthand rather than a term used in the Maryland Criminal Law Article. What the relevant sections contain are age thresholds and age-gap thresholds that determine which section applies to a set of facts and how the resulting offense is graded. Reading the phrase as Maryland law produces an answer the statutes do not support.

Is there a close-in-age exemption in Maryland?

No close-in-age provision appears in the sections described on this page. The 4-year gap in §§ 3-304, 3-307, and 3-308 is part of how each of those sections defines the conduct it reaches. When the gap is not met, that section does not reach those facts, but the analysis moves on to the other sections rather than stopping. That difference is the whole point.

If the age gap is under 4 years, is the conduct legal?

That does not follow. A gap below a threshold means the route built on that threshold is not engaged. Other sections use different ages, different thresholds, and different conduct categories, and Md. Code, Crim. Law § 3-602 is not built on an age gap at all. The correct question is which section, if any, the full set of facts engages.

What is the age-21 threshold in § 3-307?

Md. Code, Crim. Law § 3-307 includes a sexual act or vaginal intercourse with a victim who is 14 or 15 where the actor is at least 21. That route does not depend on the size of the gap between the two ages. It shows that a close-in-age assumption can point in the wrong direction, because it can place a felony section in play.

Do these thresholds change the grading of a charge?

They do. Md. Code, Crim. Law § 3-307 is a felony carrying imprisonment not exceeding 10 years, while § 3-308 is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 1 year or a $1,000 fine, enhanced to 3 years for a defendant with specified priors. Both can involve a victim who is 14 or 15. Which one applies turns on the older person’s age.

Someone told me § 3-305 covers this. Is that right?

Md. Code, Crim. Law §§ 3-305 and 3-306 were repealed, and current Maryland statutes reference them only as they existed before October 1, 2017. Any source presenting them as present law is out of date. A source that is wrong about which sections exist is usually also wrong about the thresholds and penalties it attaches to them. Check the current text before relying on it.

Does a below-threshold age gap affect registration?

Registration is governed by a separate article and is analyzed on its own terms. Md. Code, Crim. Proc. § 11-704 identifies the persons required to register, and Md. Code, Crim. Proc. § 11-701 sets out the tier I, tier II, and tier III classifications. Those provisions operate independently of the charging sections. No conclusion about registration follows from the size of an age gap by itself.

What should someone do who relied on the Romeo and Juliet idea?

Stop treating the phrase as law and start with the record. Fix the date of birth of each person and the date or date range of the conduct alleged, then compare those facts to the thresholds in each section rather than to a general rule. That comparison determines which section is in play. If a charge or an investigation already exists, do that work with counsel. Request a consultation.

Mr. Sris, Owner and Founder of Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C., is a former prosecutor and is admitted in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, and New York. The firm was founded in 1997 and concentrates in criminal defense. Mr. Sris and the firm’s Of Counsel attorneys handle age-threshold questions by establishing the ages and dates in the record first, because those facts decide which Maryland section the State can invoke and how a resulting charge is graded. The firm operates a 24/7 phone intake, and it does not guarantee outcomes in any matter. Request a consultation.

This page provides general information and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Case results depend on a variety of factors unique to each case. Results may vary.

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