Child marriage in the United States

rdf:langString Child marriage in the United States

rdf:langString September 2022

rdf:langString incidence is normally used only in the singular form, perhaps incidence, incidents, or instances was intended

rdf:langString A child marriage is a marriage in which at least one party is under 18 years of age. Within the United States, each state, territory and federal district sets the marriage age in its jurisdiction. As of July 2022, in eight states there is no statutory minimum age when all exemptions were taken into account. These states are California, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming. As of July 2022, seven states have banned underage marriages, with no exception: New Jersey (2018), Delaware (2018), Pennsylvania (2020), Minnesota (2020), Rhode Island (2021), New York (2021), and Massachusetts (2022). American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands, United States territories, have also ended child marriage in that time. Several other U.S. states have similar legislation pending. Between 2000 and 2018, nearly 300,000 minors were legally married in the United States. The vast majority of child marriages in the U.S. were between a minor girl and an adult man. In many cases, minors in the U.S. may be married when they are under the age of sexual consent, which varies from 16 to 18 depending on the state. In some states, minors cannot legally divorce or leave their spouse, and domestic violence shelters typically do not accept minors. Historically, child marriage has been a culturally acceptable practice, but today it is increasingly viewed as a form of child sexual abuse. Some international agencies, including the U.S. State Department, have declared it a human rights violation. Some researchers have concluded that there are consequences to child marriages; along with the threat of sexual abuse, children may be subject to decreased education, early pregnancies, and psychological trauma.