Puerto Rico — Legal Help

Dial 911. US constitutional protections apply in full — you have the right to remain silent and to a lawyer, and if you cannot afford one a public defender is appointed; use those rights and say nothing else. Police and courts operate in Spanish and English. US citizens have no consular layer here — it is domestic jurisdiction. Foreign nationals should invoke consular notification; several countries (including Spain and the Dominican Republic) keep consulates in San Juan, while UK, EU and Canadian travellers are generally covered by their consulates-general in Miami or New York, who supply lawyer lists but cannot intervene in a US prosecution.

The age of consent is 16 under the Puerto Rico Penal Code of 2012, but federal law criminalises paying for sex with anyone under 18 anywhere in US territory, and commercial sex of any kind remains an offence at any age. A prostitution conviction is typically a misdemeanor; anything touching minors or trafficking is federal and carries decade-plus sentences.