Florida legal term
Consent in Florida Criminal Law
Current through 2026 Florida legislative session
In Florida criminal law, “Consent” is a term defined by statute rather than by its everyday meaning. Its statutory definition — quoted verbatim below — controls how the term is applied throughout the Florida criminal code.
What does “Consent” mean in Florida criminal law?
“Consent” means intelligent, knowing, and voluntary consent and does not include coerced submission. “Consent” shall not be deemed or construed to mean the failure by the alleged victim to offer physical resistance to the offender.(b) “Female genitals” includes the labia minora, labia majora, clitoris, vulva, hymen, and vagina.(c) “Mentally defective” means a mental disease or defect which renders a person temporarily or permanently incapable of appraising the nature of his or her conduct.(d) “Mentally incapacitated” means temporarily incapable of appraising or controlling a person’s own condu (Fla. Stat. § 794.011)
Statutes defining or using this term
Charges using this term
- Administration of medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) to persons convicted of sexual battery
- Affrays and riots
- Cellular telephone counterfeiting offenses
- Contributing to the delinquency or dependency of a child; penalty
- Controlled substance named or described in s. 893.03; sale of substance in lieu thereof
- Criminal mischief; penalties; penalty for minor
- Derelict and migrant vessels; relocation or removal; penalty
- Digital voyeurism
- Disposing of personal property under lien or subject to conditional sale
- Exploitation of an elderly person or disabled adult; penalties
- Exposing children to an adult live performance
- Exposing minors to harmful motion pictures, exhibitions, shows, presentations, or representations
Related terms in the same statutes
This reference is informational and is not legal advice.