Hi Amy,

I am the mother of two sons, one 15 and the other one is 17.

It is my 17 year old that I am writing about. He has been dating this girl for the last two and a half years. She just turned 16 years old in Sept of this year. My son will be 18 in March of 2005. My question is if they were to have sex after my son (they are not sexually active right now) turns 18 could he be charged with Statutory Rape?

My husband and I are having trouble understanding this. Some people say that since they are less than 3 years apart in age that no he can't. I have found in reading some articles that the consenting age for sex in Texas is 17.

Can you please help me out with this?

Every state has different laws regarding Statutory rape -- given your reference to Texas, I'm going to assume that you live there. [Here is good information for other states - Editor.]

The laws are usually in place to ensure that there isn't an obvious and gross violation taking place, hence the usual scenario where they have to be more than 3 years apart. Since that doesn't apply and the age gap is narrow, I think you should be safe. Most states do not charge statutory rape when there is less than a 3 year gap and when the one person is over 16.

Take care,

-- Amy