Understanding Wyoming’s Legal Landscape for Business Travelers

The need for expanding business across state or country lines brings the necessity for understanding local laws and regulations. One example of such an expansion is planning team-building events or corporate gatherings outside of one’s home state. This is especially true when the location for these happenings happens to be Wyoming. This is because Wyoming’s laws regarding sex and consent are not only surprising; they are very much out of step with the rest of the United States. Because of the difference, a well educated traveler will want to take the time to research and understand the potential pitfalls or positive attributes of venturing into new territory.

XWORK blog recognizes the importance of understanding the legal age of consent in Wyoming and how it may affect their national audience. And it makes sense that the state of Wyoming is out of step with the rest of the country when it comes to consent laws. After all, Wyoming is a state that has only recently decriminalized consensual same-sex relationships. Previous to the passing of legislation which was signed into law on March 18, 2013, consensual same-sex relationships was considered the crime of sodomy in first-degree or second-degree, depending upon the circumstances. A first-degree crime was punishable by a jail sentence of not more than thirty years, imprisonment for life, or a fine of $10,000, or both. A second-degree crime was punishable by a jail sentence of not more than seven years, a fine of $5,000, or both.

So why should XWORK blog take interest in whether or not my company or I know about the legal age of consent in Wyoming? After all, I do not imagine that traveling professionals heading to Wyoming for a conference are looking to get themselves into any trouble with the law. I would like to imagine that they are just here to try out some of Wyoming’s great beers, enjoy a little walk in the great outdoors, and maybe do a little fishing and hiking while they are here.

And that might be why this matters so much. Because, while I am writing this article, I have just buzzed through to page twelve of a search under the words “legal age of consent in Wyoming” and every single one of the twelve pages come back with articles that are predominately about sex crimes in Wyoming. This is should be a major wake-up call for business professionals who are traveling to Wyoming or who are planning corporate or team-building events in the state. The commercial and group travels leave themselves susceptible to disaster when they fail to consider that there may be a major disconnect between their home state’s laws and the laws found in the state of Wyoming.

A massive part of the problem is that Wyoming has some very generous laws when it comes to giving police power to make arrests. Those laws allow an offender to be arrested for statutory rape even if they have no idea that they are engaging in sexual activity with a person under the legal age of consent in Wyoming. It is assumed by the court and the law that all offenders must be aware of the local laws and be knowledgeable about the legal ramifications of the acts they choose to engage in.

And while this may not seem like it would be a problem for a business traveler who is just in Wyoming for a few days, the fact of the matter is that Wyoming is one of the few states that do not maximize the inconvenience of the arrest to the offender. Therefore, when a person is arrested for statutory rape, they are almost guaranteed to spend at least one night in jail awaiting a hearing that will determine whether or not he or she will be granted bail and allowed to leave the state until the court proceedings are complete.

Although the law holds offenders accountable, it does so without concern for them. Without any regard to the offenses committed by other people against the person who has been arrested; they are thrown into the criminal justice system and presumed guilty until proven otherwise. This means that they are required to navigate their way out of the court system on their own. The point here is that if you are and will remain unaware of the law, then the process of extricating yourself from the legal system will take a long time and require a lot more work than if you had done your research before coming to Wyoming.

If you are thinking about planning a team-building or corporate events trip for your company away from home, then you should know what you are getting into when you get here. The bottom line is that you do not want to happen upon some of the questionable places that like to serve up legal drinks on the most beautiful of summer days in Wyoming, only to discover that you have a young person in your group who is under the legal drinking age or one who is unable to correctly ID that they are over the legal drinking age in Wyoming.

The biggest problem is that your company can be held to a higher standard and a higher level of expectation than the participants of your event. In other words, because you organized the event, it is assumed that you are responsible for everyone involved with the event. If something goes terribly wrong, the spotlight is going to shine brighter on your company. You will be the one held responsible for the actions of every participant. And you can count on the court system in Wyoming being very hard on you. Just as they do not care about the offender, they don’t care about you either.

So know what you are getting into before you set out on any out-of-state adventures. It does not matter if you are ready to accept whatever comes your way and see it as an unexpected adventure. Legal problems come with legal ramifications and you will not be able to run away from that.