What's Wrong With Our Age Of Consent Research Paper

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.

Teenagers are already confused about the mechanics of this law. They are appalled by the rule that you have to give consent every 10 minutes of foreplay, including kissing. I am also thoroughly confused. I understand that they are trying

At 18 you graduate high school and go into the world, you’re also moving out and going to college. You will be more independent and held accountable for your actions. “18 year olds are adults regardless” -debate.org. This means no matter what at 18 years old you are expected to act like an adult and be treated like an adult. The consequences for bad behavior are no longer swept under the rug. The quote recognizes that if you don’t follow the rules and act your age, you will be treated as an adult and the punishment will be the same as adults receive.

“What is the age of responsibility?” said Alan Greenblatt in his article “The Age of Responsibility.” Clearly what can be seen according to one of his lines “In America, ‘adulthood’ already has its familiar compass points, 18 and 21” (Greenblatt Par. 6) that the controversy between the milestone of adulthood and what age it should be is blatantly present in society. When Alan Greenblatt explained “...what if that age--the point when citizens are responsible enough to earn all rights [...] bear no resemblance to the ages already enshrined in law” (Par. 6) obviously what can be seen is that even though adulthood is marked between age eighteen and twenty-one, that doesn’t mean they’re responsible enough to handle them. Several factors apply to marking the milestone of adulthood, such as rites, rights, responsibilities, and overall: the age of responsibility.

The age of Consent refers to the minimum age in which one can consent to a sexual act. The purpose of the ages of consent is to protect minors from sexual predators or making adult decisions before time. Therefore the age of consent should be raise to the age of 18, when one truly becomes an adult.

What do you think the legal drinking age should be? For years the question, “What should be the legal drinking age,” has been in the air. Many people have been arguing whether or not the legal age to drink should be raised, stay the same, or lowered. Save Us from Youth talks about how there is not a consistency of laws for an eighteen-year-old. As a young adult you are given many rights to be certified as an adult, yet are held back as youth because drinking is prohibited. Different appeals to logic and red herring are used in Save Us from Youth, to give the authors view on consistency of laws and being an adult.

If 18 is considered the age of adulthood, then a person at the age of 18 should be permitted to enjoy the rights and responsibilities that becoming an adult entails, including

What is it that brings thousands of people to the stadiums and even millions more to the television screens just to watch two teams try to cross an oblong ball across a line? Some would state it is the feeling of the atmosphere you get when you walk into the stadium or the feeling you get watching your favorite team win on a last second play. However, others would say that it is the bone-jarring, jaw-dropping, astonishing hits that get the crowd on its feet. These spectacular hits may cause highlight reels and millions of views on YouTube, but they do have their consequences. Dr. Bennett Omalu, a chief medical examiner of San Joaquin County, California, has done plenty of research about what goes on in the brain when these type of hits occur.

When you become an adult you can vote, join the military, jury duty, sign contracts, marry, apply for loans, make decisions regarding medical treatments, and be prosecuted as an adult (“Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered From 21 to a Younger Age?”). Adults have the right to make their own decisions, and there are many arguments on why 18-year-olds should be able to consume alcohol legally. In other countries like Europe with an MLDA of 18, there are fewer drunk driving traffic accidents and fatalities than an MLDA of 21 in America (“Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered From 21 to a Younger Age?”). Many argue that the government and the police should worry more about every legal person’s alcohol consumption instead of just underaged

At age 16, we are allowed to drive, which is almost a rite of passage in America, granting youth the freedom to travel. At 18, we are given most of our freedoms; this is the age where society deems us mature and responsible enough to make our own informed choices. We are given the right to vote, to serve on a jury. We are deemed old enough to be drafted and sent off to war. We are allowed to gamble away our money in casinos. In most states you are allowed to purchase and smoke cigarettes. How exactly is it fair that a 20 year old marine is able to go to war, get shot at, shoot back, all while developing a nicotine addiction through smoking yet when he comes home he is unable to buy a beer from the same place he bought a lottery ticket because someone in Washington, DC deemed that it was “too dangerous?” Where is the sense in

The Laws and Liberties of Massachusetts (LLM) have a few laws similar to laws of modern day. The fifteenth LLM says that if any man has sex with a woman without her consent that is above the age of 10 he will be punished either with death or with another punishment decided by the Judge/General Court. This is also a law of modern day that if a man or women has sex with someone who is under the age 18 and/or have sex with someone without their consent, they will also be punished with jail time or the death penalty. The similarities between the modern and original law is that you will be punished for nonconsent sex however the differences is the age limit and the law applies to both genders in the modern day. The fourth LLM says that if anyone

From a very young age parents teach their children right from wrong, some children even as young as 6 years old get that talk. Not only do we have parents teaching our children but we also have the education system and other family members. In 47 states being an 18-year-old means you are an adult and can be tried as one in the court of law. You may wonder, why 18? What makes an 18 year old different from 15, 16, or 17-year-old? Well, according to New York officials the only reason why 18-year-olds are considered adults is because that is the age they are allowed to vote. (http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2013/04/new_york_minimum_smoking_age_why_are_young_people_considered_adults_at_18.html) If it were not for the voting age being 18 maybe children would be considered adults at a younger age. Most people can look back into their teenage years and realize that they were not dumb or that we did not know any better.

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

Misguided laws are compounded by media outlets use of the very words regarding sex offenses. I found an interesting study by the National Center For Reason

from an early age, and continuing the education throughout their teen years, students are aware of their choices and more importantly, aware of how to protect themselves.