Statutory Rape Laws

Have you ever wondered what Statutory Rape really is? It is sexual intercourse with a minor. In humbler terms it is when a male adult 18 years or older has sexual intercourse with a female who is 17 years old or younger without consent. The issue that I have seen arise a great deal of the time is that the laws in most states are sexually biased when it comes to an adult male and an underage female. In this essay I want to specifically focus on the State of North Carolina, being that I live in this state.

Today, many kids don’t know how to deal with the trauma after they were raped because the subject is so taboo that they feel as if it was their fault due to the fact they were never told otherwise in a safe environment. Schools don’t talk about sex unless they are enforcing a strong message of abstinence. This leaves a lot of gray area for most teens today. Because of this, adolescents don’t know the line between consensual and non-consensual sex, who’s to blame in a situation like Melinda’s, and if it is okay to ask any questions about the subject. Kids who were raped and going through this struggle will start to find a way to blame themselves. Victims of sexual assault feel like they need to “confess everything [and] hand over the guilt and mistake and anger to someone else” (Anderson 51). Victims of rape shouldn’t

It’s time to separate the child sex offender from the children being accused of sex offending unreasonably. There are many stories of teenagers 15, 16, 17, just trying on young love for the first time. What should be happy memories can be turned to shame, and they don’t even have to have actual intercourse for it to be called a “sex offense.” Here are some examples of needed changes to our laws:

Can we take a moment to think about how there are so many double standards when it comes to sex and I’m not just talking about the typical guys can have casual sex with multiple people and get praised for it but when a woman does it she gets slut-shamed? I’m talking about the double standards with statutory rape, for example, a 17-year-old boy was sentenced 10 years in prison for having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old. I’m wondering so is the 15-year-old girl going to jail too? So let's start from the beginning statutory rape refers to having sexual relations under the age of consent which is different in states but typically is between the ages of 16-18 here in the US. Now statutory rape and child molester is not the same thing, statutory

Not all cases include substantially more established men, and faultfinders ask whether we ought to criminalize the conduct of 19-yearold young men and their 15-year-former sweethearts. From my knowledge, all state has different charges and sentences. A prime example of the law difference would be Rhode Island and Alabama. According to the olr investigate report the charges that somebody may confront for statutory assault in Alabama for first-degree assault for somebody age 16 or more established to have sex with somebody under age 12 is a sentence of life in jail or in the vicinity of 10 and 99 years. Though a moment degree assault charge for somebody age 16 or more established to have sex with somebody between age 12 and 16, when the performing artist is no less than two years more established is Two to 20 years in jail. From my point of view, I trust this state considers assault important and I trust that would deflect individuals and It gets an attacker of the streets.They implement their laws immensely well and that is the means by which I think different states ought to deal with the charges

The perspective offered by such longitudinal data sheds remarkable light on the "problem" of statutory rape, identifying for us key markers, as well as key actors, in the history of the law's enforcement and helping us to understand their roles in constructing the meaning of this crime over successive generations. ... The statutory rape codes have been used at various times to reinforce fathers' interests in their daughters' marriageability, to protect young women's chastity from seductive men, to control promiscuous or disease-laden adolescent females, to enhance child support collection efforts, to reduce teenage pregnancy, and to identify and punish sexual exploitation of teenagers. ... Given the constant state of jockeying, compromise and

The statistical evidence of young female juveniles describes by journalist Linda Lowen. Lowen says young girls who were subjected to many different mental health issues and some form of abuse have often led to delinquent conduct. Abuse, such as, physical, mental, sexual, and emotional abuse is the most commonplace behind a juvenile’s girl’s negative behavior. In the United States, seventy-three percent of young girls have been abused. Just over forty percent of young girls have been victims of sexual assault or rape. Girls who have been abused or neglected are twice as likely to be arrested as other girls (Lowen, 2014).

As teens and young adults, many people throughout Pennsylvania experience love for the first time. If they decide to act on their feelings, however, what should be a special time and experience may result in serious criminal charges. Depending on a couple’s ages, getting intimate with a partner could be considered statutory sexual assault.

Statutory rape refers to sexual relations involving someone below the "age of consent." People below the age of consent cannot legally consent to having sex. This means that sex with them, by definition, violates the law.

Martha Kempner, author of the article “What’s Wrong With Our Age of Consent Laws”, states “Age of consent laws is meant to protect young people from exploitation by adults, but in too many instances they send 18-year-old boys to jail for having consensual sex with their 15-year-old girlfriends. The boys then end up on sex offender registries for life along side rapists and pedophiles. Should we really be legislating teen sex?” There are also many inconsistencies amongst state to state regarding these laws, differing between ages 16 and 18 as the legal consent age, causes much confusion for couples in relationships, such as one Kempner stated, as well as the opportunity for the exploitation of 16 year olds by adults who live in states in which the laws have been lowered. Now the age of 25 for sexual consent laws, is likely too drastic, however we propose that there should be at least an equal age amongst all states, to eliminate any further unnecessary confusion, embarrassment, and

Consent laws were originally set to prevent the problem of children being preyed upon by a sexual predator, which is causing more harm now (Appel 1). With the consent age being low there are many teen pregnancies. Teen pregnancies cannot only be dangerous for the baby, but for the mother as well. Any parent who is aware of the ¬sexual relations of their child should be held responsible because they are aware of the situation and are not doing anything to try to help prevent it. If any parent does not try to stop it or is okay with it, they can face prosecution and loss of custody for contributing to the corruption of a minor (Napolitan

On top of that, laws regarding Statutory Rape are different from one state to the next. “30 states currently consider 16 to be the age of consent; the remaining 20 states set it either at 17 or 18.” (Schwiegershausen “What You Should Know About Statutory-Rape Laws”). Some states allow the use of mistaken age or a small age gap (Romeo and Juliet Laws) as a defense against charges of Statutory Rape, and some states do not. This causes a lot of confusion as to what the laws are, especially for those moving from state to state a lot. Many people (minors especially) do not think it is an issue because if it’s consensual, why should age matter? The median age difference in Statutory Rape cases is 6 years. There are plenty of people who are married and have kids who are 6 or less years apart in age. Often because of this belief they do not take the time to research and discover the laws, and then they end up in a legal mess because it never occurred to them that consensual sexual activities would send one, or both, of them to prison. Those who understand Statutory Rape laws state that if it were truly consensual it wouldn’t be prosecuted, but there is a huge flaw in this line of thinking. If the law states that it is illegal to have sex with a person under the age of consent, and the law assumes that if it’s consensual it will not be brought to the court; that

Although there is the “Romeo and Juliet Law”, which is in place to prevent serious criminal charges against teenagers who engage in consensual sex with others close to their own age. In Florida, there is an exemption for consensual sex when the minor is 14-17 years old and the defendant is no more than four years older. If the defendant meets certain eligibility requirements, the law will remove the requirement of registering as a sex offender. The terms of imprisonment and fines may still be

“Average of 9.5% of the 4,163 girls surveyed in 1997 and 1999 nearly four percent reported sexual abuse” (Levine 2). Sexual pressures are very dangerous. They cause “Nearly one in five teenage girls had been physically or sexual abused by a date” (Levine 1). In fact, 17% of teens in a recent survey report that a boyfriend or girlfriend has made them afraid to not respond to a cell phone call, email, IM, or text message because of what he or she might do” ( Abusive Teen Dating Partners 3). If there are five girls in a group and all asked the same questions about being physically or sexual abused by a date at least one would say yes that they have been sexually abused. That would be 20% of high school girls. High school girls experience in increased amount of sexual pressures within

Rape is an extremely controversial issue and this notion is supported based on the fact that basic definitions and explanations of rape usually directly correlate with a state's lawful definition of rape. This proves problematic as many people's explanations and definitions of rape are quite different to that of the law. Social science theorists argue that rape is a learned action with which society plays a crucial role, Ellis (1989). Based on this theory it seems only logical to propose that there