Sexual intercourse by a male with a female under a specified legal age constitutes the crime of statutory or consensual rape. It is irrelevant whether or not the male is actually aware of the girl's true age, and equally irrelevant that he might have been misled by the girl to believe that she was above the age of consent. There have been cases of males who were prosecuted for statutory rape for having engaged in sexual relations with a professional prostitute when the girl was under the age of consent.

The age specified by law for consent varies throughout the United States, though it has now risen considerably above the ten- and twelve-year-old limits formerly part of the English common law. In the United States, the lowest age is fourteen, in Georgia, and the highest, twenty-one, in Tennessee. Most states use the age of eighteen, and it is noteworthy that in many jurisdictions the legal age of consent to sexual relations is well above the legal age at which a girl may be married. In fact, it is possible in most states for a man to be prosecuted for statutory rape if he engages in a sexual relationship with a consenting married female under the age of eighteen.

The numbers are staggering of the young men who have been imprisoned, became first time felons and end up life time registered sex offenders over statutory rape and unlawful sexual contact because of age differences regardless of the situation.

I have mixed feelings on this issue. As a woman and mother I find rape one of the most heinous crimes there is. It's a violent, humiliating offence that has nothing to do with sex..but control and over powering another.

As a mother of sons I have been around young women, seems like forever...many very sexually active at young ages, many of them with babies in their teens, and a whole bunch of them confused and more than anxious to use 'beaver power' over the boys and even intentionally punish them for non compliance.

Are these laws fair? Do we hold the males to a higher standard? Are we letting the females get away with a bit much? Should the females also be held accountable for their part?

What are your thoughts on this issue?

are the laws fair? no

do we hold males to a higher standard? in this case, yes

are we letting females get away with a bit much? in this case, yes

should the females be held accountable? when there is no force or threat used,,,,yes

I have always felt a bit confused on this issue as it pertains to our culture. I feel the mixed messages are frustrating to ME and must be overwhelming to a young girl.


The mixed message is this

1. Sex is natural. Sex is the natural expression of two 'consenting adults' when they love and/or are attracted to each other.

2. Teens have hormones and they are 'gonna have sex'. Its just a FACT OF LIFE.(therefore sex is not a strictly 'adult' activity?)

3. Teens should be given the option to explore and define their sexuality, which is a very personal thing.

4. Society dictates that this very personal thing that you should be naturally exploring as a teen, can ONLY be explored with others a specfic age.

5. Dictating what gender you (teen) should be with is bigoted.

6. Dictating what AGE GROUP you(teen) should be with is caring and responsible.


... I feel sorry.

The message is that they arent old enough to understand the ramifications of sex, and yet, we will EXPECT and in no way STIGMATIZE them for having sex,, because its natural,, UNLESS their partner is of X age. How do we do that? How do we preach how natural sex is but then show them that we will penalize 'adults' who perform that very 'natural' activity with them?

I feel the same way about domestic abuse. Hitting is wrong is wrong. I dont think we should penalize and stigmatize men anymore for being 'wrong' than we do women. Yet in this culture, men who hit women are animals and women who hit men are just 'hormonal'.

In N.America, Society has always held Males sexually responsible for their actions. I don't have a problem with it.

Where I do have a problem, is with Females sometimes falsely accusing males of sexual wrongdoing as revenge.

As a judge, I'd give HER the same sentence HE would have gotten including a registered sex offender status.

Speaking from my own personal experience. (I've worked in a jail for 16 years)
YEs sex crimes are some of the most heinous. And in my belief there should be at least one other label to be put on youthful offenders in place of sex offender. When the circumstances are similar to --close to same age, and admittedly was consensual. That they are legally married to each other.
Many times I have seen young men in my jail with this label that will remain with them for life. When they were just 18 or 21 and girlfriend was just under 18 and when he broke up or parents didn't like him, or parents wanted to punish him. He now has to have this label forever. I'm sorry but its NOT right. There are sexual predators and offenders that deserve it. But if is knowingly consensual, why ruin a young person life, thats a felony, that NEVER comes off your record.

It is a shame in those instances. But my belief is also, that if they did the crime. Then they should do the time. But in these cases, I think it needs to be handled differently

Trouble

It's great to see you weigh in on this because of your experience.

The laws in place over this issue were originally started to
protect a woman, girls virginity....so she would be a virgin
at the time of her marriage.

As stated above....the 'common english laws' had the ages as
low as 10. This is because there was a time was very young girls
were traded, sold..whatever into marriage. As we all know, still
happens in places in the world.

Sounds like a very sexist law to begin with... the laws
were not put in place to protect females at all. Only that the
man get to be the one who pops her cherry....that is ego-based
in a huge way. This is not a law about truth and justice.
I might add...this mentality of 'i took her virginity' still
carries over today.

wtf men? Is it the innocence thing? Seriously, I'm not
being butt-head, I'm asking.


Many states punish statutory rape under laws addressing sexual
assault, rape, unlawful sexual intercourse or carnal knowledge
of a child. There are very few federal laws dealing with
statutory rape.


Seems to be the right time to re-evaluate some of these laws,
make some necessary changes. What laws man set in place for his
gain have now back fired with a vengeance. The men of today are
paying for their ancestors choices.



The entire issue screams unfair, on so many levels..

First and foremost the laws are hypocritical and wrong. If a man KNOWINGLY commits the act KNOWING the girl is underage then he deserves to be punished. BUT if it can be substantiated that she lied ie. had false ID, openly told him her age in front of others, SHE ADMITS SHE LIED!, then punishing the man is wrong on a host of levels.

Now to teen Psychology, if you are a parent you know teens are willful! You also know teens will lie. You also know they will want to try to jump into the adult crowd too soon and do so completely unprepared for the realities of life. In some cases (AND NOT ALL IF YOU DARE TO ACCUSE ME OF GENERALIZING HERE I WILL RISK ANOTHER SUSPENSION OF MY POSTING PRIVILEGES, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!) I flatly blame the parent(s) because of their poor upbringing and child rearing skills.

Some men do make it a practice of "Scoring" the under age girls. These men are predators and likewise deserve to get their pee pee's whacked. and some girls who are underage likewise WANT TO BE WITH A OLDER MAN! We used to call Cougars MILFs and in the movies it was always so funny when a older woman bags herself a teenager but GOD FORBID A MAN MY AGE SHOULD HAVE A 16 YEAR OLD GIRL GET INTO BED WITH ME! It isn't legal here in CA although in some states it is! HYPOCRITICAL MORALITY!

In classical society and even still in some places in the world marriages are arranged and happen at 12 years old! The United States is all sorts of fuqued up over sex and sexuality. We have become a society of puritanical prudes looking over everyone's hedge to see what we do through the window's of our neighbor's houses and when we see things we are taught to revile when we are in our homes we pull the curtains shut and get all sorts of freaky deaky nasty.

The Robin Loewll sex scandal where the actor Robin Lowell made a sex tape with a 15 year old girl and got busted. She sure did not seem to be forced into bed with him. There is a lot to be said about the concept of consent! Where does one draw the line? At biological age? Morality? Ethical Standard? Personally I draw the line at 14 because children at this point begin to grasp for knowledge of the adult world. many by this time are showing signs of responsibility and self determination BUT this sword does indeed have two edges.

FIRST AND FOREMOST most parents I see who have issues fail BECAUSE they shield their children from life and when they get a taste of the outside parents are ill prepared for the reality they have to watch them grow up and leave. EDUCATION IS EVERYTHING but not everything is the School's responsibility to teach their children. Something is wrong with a 14 year old girl who just wants to get pregnant and be a mommy herself! Parents do not teach their children the consequences of sex. They prefer the school teaches them that. Parents hide their sexuality from their children. Parents do not teach them the difference in contact patterns. The way we touch each other is a form of communication and when we speak of Bad Touching it should be explained as a Violation of Personal Space by someone they did not give permission to touch them. This makes the touchy feeley predators have a harder time homing in on gullible children. Likewise they are more in control of their own personal interactions when they have good examples to go by. Making out in front of your children is in VERY BAD TASTE and sends an incorrect message. Getting caught making out with each other but not showing any guilt when getting caught does not send any bad messages. It is how you handle getting caught. Trust is a tricky thing and many failed or failing parents have lost that with their children. It has everything to do with how they handle predators, especially the ones who threaten children to remain silent about their victimization. Real trust is when a child can inform you about someone threatening them or even threatening you vicariously to bluff the child into compliance. They have to know that no matter what you are not going to freak the fuque out and blow everything completely out of proportion. What sucks is how a few parents can actually yell at their daughter when they have been raped. Suddenly their "Pure little Angel" is a whore when she had no choice. Those are the parents that suck so hard they swallow! These are head cases who need therapy or should never have had children in the first place.

Hell, I knew and know girls who do ANYTHING the can to get at their parents and being promiscuous is their favorite sport. What then? She's 15 and screwed over 20 men with no plans to stop? So who exactly is the victim? This here IS a total break down between parents and child. Also it exemplifies the conflict of Morality and Reality!

I know good parenting and trust can deal with a lot of the problem when we empower our children and give them the right to decide for themselves but some people are shittheads when they are young and will grow up to be shittheads in the wide variety of stupidity and self righteousness humanity can offer. You cannot predict what your child will grow up to be. You cannot give them everything and expect them to want to do anything for themselves. But teaching them hypocritical morality and sending conflicting signals only inflames the problem.

Wost is the media and even most mothers teach their daughters to use sex as a tool and weapon and some girls want to get practice in early! Do I sound like I am being unrealistic?

BARBIE! the softer side of it.

Sex and the City! (God I hate that show!) Nuff said!

BTW, I Know this is off topic slightly BUT it is said and known here that many of these "Premium" actors (male) sucked a lot of you know what to get where they are. A friend of mine has a DVD I can't remember the title of that cites a litany of "Masculine" black actors of name acting a little "Swishy" behind the scenes. It spells out who is and who is not sucking their way to stardom. Chris Rock actually is one of a VERY few black male actors to not wear a dress or play the part of a woman in ANY movie they were part of. He actually talked a lot about that in an interview and not from a comedian's stand point. He was serious when he said he was not ever going to wear a dress.

Like I said, PEOPLE learn that sex can get them what they want and if guys can suck some you know what well, girls got a lot more going for them unless they are trying to compete in a homosexual forum.

And how many women out there try to hook a man by GETTING pregnant in the first place?

my daughter was 14yrs old when my grandson was born
her bf was 3yrs older than her and in oregon it is declared sagitary rape
they knew where he work and where he lived but they didnt arrest him untill 1yr after my grandson was born
he was in jail for 1yr and the week he got out was the week my daughter got pg with her 2nd child.
he went back to jail a few months before my 2nd grandchild was born
my daughter graduated 1yr early ahead of her class with honors
she had her daughter the day before graduation

thet were together on and off for 10yrs
and they got married 5yrs ago and a month after they got married she found out she was pg with her 3rd child
they didnt even celebrate there first annerversary and they split up
i told my daughter i had a feeling that he was going to brake his probation and go back to jail
i was right
he was arrested 7 days before he was to be off probation
he and his brother got in trouble and was served 3yrs
while my ex son nlaw was in jail in got in trouble for something else
so he has another 3yrs to go and his brother got out last yr
and yes my daughter did file for divorce

she now with someone that cares for her and my grandkids and is expecting her 4th child in september

One other side note, I knew a guy who was 18 and his girlfriend was 15. they were sweethearts since he was 15 when they met. They were an item for two years and she lost her virginity to him and he likewise lost his to her but he was 17 at the time. They were known to be sexually active and he had a job and was planning on having her move in with him when she turned 18. Her parents thought the world of him. I knew the guy and he was one of the few people who had his head screwed on correctly. They were also planning on getting married and she was going to go to college. Her high school teacher called the police the day of his 18th birthday and had his life ruined as well as hers. They did stay together and when he got out of prison got the hell out of this state. the High School teacher was one of those "Morally incorruptible" people, steeped in God's ways.

This is one example of the failure of the spirit of the law in Black and White enforcement.

several yrs back there was a artical in the paper
a 14yr old girl already had one child and another on the way
she was married to the guy that fathered her kids
her mother allowed this
he was in his 20s
and some how the state got involved and they arrest him for sagitary rape even thoug they were married

there was a girl i went to a teen mother program she was 14 and was married to a man in his late 20s
i have no clu if anything became of that
but they did have a child together(that was 28yrs ago)

This to me is the entire problem with the laws as they are, right here. Instead of using common sense on what is right and what isn't, it's all about obedience, no matter whose lives you ruin in the process to enforce that.

Glad to hear that they stuck it out though, but this should not be happening. We have created a culture of busybodies in effect with all the laws anymore such as this.

Andy, you bring up alot of the concerns

In CA. there is the "Romeo n Juliet' law.
This is where both kids (under state appointed age)
are breaking the law just by having sex. They both
can face statutory charges...
and at times the parents have NO say, the state can
prosecute.
An entirely different aspect of the law.

Education, media, parents....
so many factors

what a mess

common sense is not common, and if certain people are allowed to skirt the law on some loophole, where does it end. who decides who is held to the law and who isn't. innocent until proven guilty, but if you stand accused, best have an alibi or plenty of OJ lawyers. things don't always fit into nice little boxes of who is right and who is wrong, but it's harder to draw solid lines when people can buy their own permanent marker to draw with

How about deciding situations on a case by case basis, and not just one size fits all? Really not that hard. Can you honestly defend the two cases posted above as being just?

you see that is what the justice system is supposed to do. if it worked as intended, a non bias decision would have been made in each case and justice would have been served. but there are many factors that make judgements that are biased and/or unfair

This is precisely why there are many advocates of sex education. Truth is, we can't police our children 24/7 (Big Brother anyone?). Even if we did, we are taking away life experiences that may help them to grow into responsible, mature adults. When we were kids, we all did at least a few things behind our parents' backs. How did it affect us? What lessons did we learn from it? The answers lay within ourselves, not in society.

I don't know the current law here in Connecticut, but I remember going to the library when I was in high school to the reference section filled with State Statutes. I opened the law books and thoroughly read the laws regarding Statutory Rape and Age of Consent. I must have gone over it at least 4 times. Here is what I found:

A 12 year old could legally have sex with a 14 year old so long as it was consentual with parental permission. A 14 year old could have consentual sex with a 16 year old without parental permission. An 18 year old could NOT have consentual sex with a 17 year old.

The 18 year old was considered an adult while the 17 year old was considered a minor. The law strictly forbid an adult from having sex with a minor. Period.

However, two minors could have consentual sex without risk of Statutory Rape as long as their age difference was no greater than 2 years. Hence, a 17 year old could not have sex with a 14 year old regardless of consent or parental permission.

The law has long since changed. In fact, it was changed about 5 years after I read it in the Book of Statutes. I haven't read it since. By then I was over 18....So anyone under 18 was off-limits as far as I was concerned.

Agreed. I personally think that the only times the law should come into play with sex, is in cases of rape, pedophilia, and perhaps indecent and purposeful exposure.

Other than that, I think the state should butt out of people's personal lives. Pretty simple, clear cut and much easier to understand than all these convoluted rules about what is ok and what isn't.

Maybe if YOU MEN weren't 'programmed ' to protect our virginity
everybody wouldn't be so confused!!

agreed, can we do it now