Coming of age
In the United States, teenagers are allowed to drive at 16 in all states except New Jersey, which requires drivers to be 17 and older, and sometimes receive the responsibility of owning their own car. Teenagers may drive at age 15 in Idaho and Montana. At 16, teenagers are also old enough to donate blood and work in most establishments. At 18 one is legally considered an adult and can vote and join the military. The legal age for purchasing and consuming alcohol and recreational marijuana, the latter of which is only legal in the District of Columbia, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Alaska, is 21. The legal age for purchasing and consuming tobacco products is 18 in most states; 19 in Alabama, Alaska and Utah; and 21 in California, New Jersey, Oregon, Hawaii and Maine. Multiple localities have also raised the minimum purchase age independent of state laws.
Ages of consent in the United States
Notwithstanding the age of consent, however, for purposes of child prostitution offenses in Colorado, a "child" means a person under the age of eighteen years. C.R.S. 18-7-401(2). Reasonable mistake of age, or similarity in age, is not a defense to these offenses. C.R.S. 18-7-407. All child prostitution offenses are class three felonies (class one felonies are capital offenses, class two felonies include second degree murder). So, while it is not a crime for a 17-year-old to have non-commercial sex with a 60-year-old in Colorado, it is a serious crime punishable by four to twelve years in prison for an 18 year old to engage in any sexual act, or to present at a "place of prostitution" with an intent do so, for money or any other thing of value with a seventeen-year-old with the reasonable belief that the minor was under eighteen years old. C.R.S. 18-7-406. The same conduct, entered into with an eighteen-year-old and without a belief that the prostitute was under eighteen years of age, would be a misdemeanor. C.R.S. 18-7-205. Those under the age of eighteen are also children for the crime of inducing or coercing someone to have sex or to have sexual conduct with another for the voyeur's gratification, or to expose themselves to another for the voyeur's sexual gratification, C.R.S. 18-3-404(1.5), and the crime of trafficking in children, C.R.S. 18-3-502.