Do we need statutory rape laws?

Are they fair?

What do they say about underage males and females and their ability to make choices?

If sex is consensual, regardless of age, where is the problem?

Would you want a perverted old man 'picking up' your 14 year old daughter? Statutory rape laws help to prevent this sort of thing. I could understand a slight adjustment to the age of consent like to 16 or 17 for example. I wouldn't guess, though, that the SR laws would ever be repealed, as they're designed to protect young teens from 'predators'.

I haven't agreed with too many of Stefan's posts, but I wholeheartedly support his point. As a father of two daughters, even though they're young now, I would have serious issues with an older guy even thinking impure thought about my underage daughters.

BTW, if both teenagers are of the same, yet underage, it isn't statutory rape is it?

Predatory older men make up a very small percentage of statutory rape cases. Mostly it is a range from teens to early-mid 20s. Not that great of an age difference in the larger scheme of things.

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My spouse and I have a little over four years between us. Strange to know we could have been separated for a long period of time by incarceration for our 'crime' at one point in time.

There are a lot of cons with getting stricter on enforcing SR laws.

1. Healthcare. A young girl gets pregnant by her older boyfriend. If she is aware of these laws and the consequences, that very well could discourage her from getting proper prenatal care.

2. Not all 3-6yrs older men are 'predators'. If they are in jail for obviously having sexual relations with a minor (by pregnancy), who is going to care for the minor and her child? Who is going to be a Daddy to that child? This jeapordizes the relationship between mother and father and father and child. Obviously, if a man is in jail he's not paying child support either.

3. A lot of young women will go to far lengths to protect the men they either love or think they love. Back alley abortions, anyone?

4. This is more whimsical... but love is honestly not restricted by age. How many relationships (relationships such as mine with my spouse) will this law prevent?

5. These laws assume that younger women aren't old enough to decide their reproductive lives. That they aren't old enough to pick a partner. That they aren't old enough to deal with repercussions. In today's world, this just isn't as true anymore (or if it ever was).

6. These laws do little about actual predators. Predators are predators and the law isn't a deterrent in a person so serious about pursuing someone so much younger for sinister reasons.

I've got more, but I need to gather my statistics and information... I'll probably readdress this sometime tomorrow.


*Family Planning Perspectives

And that is why I say again, that you could perhaps adjust the age of concent a bit, but somebody 18 or older doesn't really have any business with a 14 or 15 year old. At that age, I don't believe they are mature enough to be dating, or doing 'anything' with a legal adult.

My spouse and I were dating at 15 and 19yrs old. We've been married all this time. I daresay that even at those tender ages we chose well, better than most.

Stefan Fargus stands corrected. I concede on that point, that there are exceptions to the rule... But I don't think you'll find to many people in favor of lowering the age of consent as low as 15. You'd probably start seeing allot more fathers of teenage girls going out and buying handguns.