Raise the age of consent within Maryland to 18.

In the modern world we live in there is no practical use of having a age lower than 18. If your not seen as an adult at 16 then why can you date adults by 16. A child that is still figuring out Algebra or Geometry, shouldn't be trusted with the ability to date 20, 30, even 40 year old's. In a 2026 study with 918 adult child sexual assault victims. Jeglic, E. L., Winters, G. M., Johnson, B. N., Steedman, L. A., Rasol, A., et al. (2026). Examining sexual grooming behaviors of children: Variations by relationship to the perpetrator. Child Abuse & Neglect, 178, 108174. Grooming was reported in nearly every single case. At a younger age grooming was found within interfamily connections. But within adolescence it's friend/romantic partners using intimate strategies. With the open accessibility of social media such as Instagram, snapchat, discord. You don't need to be in a position that's around children. Instead most perpetrators contact these minors through these platforms and employ their tactics of grooming. Knowing this, we can say that the minute they turned 16 they started talking to someone much older. Although possible, the reality is that the minor most likely already had a relationship with that person. Or that person was stalking them and waiting till they were 16. To contact them! Statistically 25% of girls and 5% of boys are victims of child sexual assault by 18. To protect our children and work forward to eliminate this horrid crime. We need to look at the system and destroy it from there.