Coverage note: this corpus holds the
consolidated Pa.C.S. titles only. Unconsolidated P.S. statutes (UTPCPL 73 P.S. § 201-1, Liquor Code, wage payment laws) are not included; a miss here does not mean the statute does not exist. Check
palegis.us.
§ 3102. Mistake as to age.
Except as otherwise provided, whenever in this chapter the criminality of conduct
depends on a child being below the age of 14 years, it is no defense that the defendant
did not know the age of the child or reasonably believed the child to be the age of
14 years or older. When criminality depends on the child's being below a critical
age older than 14 years, it is a defense for the defendant to prove by a preponderance
of the evidence that he or she reasonably believed the child to be above the critical
age.
(May 18, 1976, P.L.120, No.53, eff. 30 days; Mar. 31, 1995, 1st Sp.Sess., P.L.985,
No.10, eff. 60 days)
1995 Amendment. Section 18 of Act 10, 1st Sp.Sess., provided that the amendment of section 3102 shall
apply to offenses committed on or after the effective date of Act 10.
Cross References. Section 3102 is referred to in section 3018 of this title.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
14
cases (
2 in the last 5 years), 1995–2025 · leading case:
United States v. Wilson, 66 M.J. 39 (C.A.A.F. 2008).
United States v. Wilson, 66 M.J. 39 (C.A.A.F. 2008).
· cites it 2× “325 (West 2007); 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. § 3102 (West 2007); Tenn.”
Commonwealth v. Gallagher, 924 A.2d 636 (Pa. 2007).
· cites it 2× “18 Pa.C.S. § 3102 (making clear that "mistake of age" defense will not be available to any crimes in subchapter involving rape for victims less than 14 years of age) [2] ; 18 Pa.”
Kistler v. Commonwealth, State Ethics Comm'n, 22 A.3d 223 (Pa. 2011).
· cites it 2× “While the law has tolerated the removal of the scienter prerequisite from some discreet elements of serious offensessuch as with regard to the age element where the victim of a sexual crime is under fourteen years old, see 18 Pa.C.S. § 3102; Commonwealth v. Robinson, 497 Pa.”
Fleming, Mark Alexander, 455 S.W.3d 577 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014).
“325(1), (2) (age 16); 18 Pa. Cons.Stat. § 3102 (age 14); Tenn.Code Ann.”
Commonwealth v. Hacker, 15 A.3d 333 (Pa. 2011).
· cites it 4× “" 18 Pa.C.S. 302(d). The General Assembly has expressed a contrary purpose here.”
Commonwealth v. Fetter, 770 A.2d 762 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2001).
“As the victim’s beliefs as to how old she looked is irrelevant to appellant’s beliefs and knowledge of her actual age, the trial court did not err in sustaining the objection to the question.”
Commonwealth v. Rishel, 658 A.2d 352 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1995).
“Where the facts relating to an exception incorporated in the enacting clause of a criminal statute are difficult for the state to obtain and are at the same time peculiarly within the knowledge of defendants, the exception is usually considered as a defense or justification and…”
Commonwealth v. Dennis, 784 A.2d 179 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2001).
“18 Pa.C.S. § 3102. ¶ 9 An identical argument was advanced in Commonwealth v.”
Mehboob v. Attorney Gen. of the United States, 175 F. App'x 559 (3rd Cir. 2006).
· cites it 2× “” 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3102 . However, the existence of a separate statutory or common law defense (which only underscores the lack of a mens rea requirement as to the age element) is irrelevant to our “least culpable conduct” test, which is restricted to the elements of the…”
Jimenez-cedillo (BIA 2020).
“See 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. § 3102 (2019). The respondent’s statute of conviction, section 3-307 of the Maryland Criminal Law, mirrors this provision for minors under 14 years and, for 14- and 15-year-olds, requires that the perpetrator be, at a minimum, 6 years older than the…”
Com. v. Johnson, D. (Pa. Super. Ct. 2024).
“18 Pa.C.S. § 3102. The PCRA court found that Appellant’s counsel had a reasonable basis for not requesting an instruction on mistake of age.”
Com. v. Ortiz, A. (Pa. Super. Ct. 2025).
“See 18 Pa.C.S. § 3102 (limiting mistake of age defense); Commonwealth v.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.