It’s high time North Carolina followed its neighbors and the national trend by raising the age of marriage to 18, which has been shown to be the simplest, most straightforward and most powerful way to protect children not only from forced and abusive marriages, but also from all the other risks and harms that come from marrying too young. This case illustrates the urgent need to close legal loopholes that are not only leaving North Carolina children vulnerable, but also attracting predators from other states. He denied the petition, only to have it approved in a neighboring county. In fact, just last year the register of deeds in Buncombe County was asked to issue a marriage license to a 49 year-old man from Kentucky who intended to marry a 17 year-old girl. More alarming still is anecdotal evidence that North Carolina is becoming a destination for people who are being denied marriage licenses in other states. But this was the case in 57 percent of the marriage licenses we reviewed. North Carolina law defines sexual intercourse between two parties with an age difference of four years or greater when one is 15 or younger as a felony. What’s more, the current marriage-age law sanctions sex that would otherwise be considered statutory rape. Assuming similar rates across the remaining 50 counties and extrapolating by population, we’ve estimated the total number of child marriages that took place in the state, and this estimate places us among the top five states in the nation for highest prevalence of child marriage – the others being Texas, Florida, Kentucky and Alabama. We found that at least 3,949 marriage license applications involving 4,218 minors occurred in the 50 counties reporting between 2000-2019. A shocking example, but also a legal one. The most egregious age difference between “spouses” was 40 years, between a 57- and 17-year-old. Thousands of children have been married legally under North Carolina law in recent years, and yes, some as young as 14.
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