From: rll1@kepler.unh.edu (Robert L Lamothe)
Newsgroups: talk.rape
Subject: Re: Let's Move On Again.
Date: 14 Dec 1992 23:03:32 GMT
Organization: University of New Hampshire  -  Durham, NH
Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: kepler.unh.edu

In article <78272@hydra.gatech.EDU> gt8834a@prism.gatech.EDU (Cott Lang) writes:
>In <1gbsejINN55s@mozz.unh.edu> rll1@kepler.unh.edu (Robert L Lamothe) writes:
>
>>If a 14 year old boy and a 14 year old girl have mutualy willing sex then I'd
>>couldn't see having the boy face criminal charges for this, sure lack of 
>>judgement may be at play here but not criminal intent.  However if a 19 year
>>old boy and a 12 year old girl do the same then I'd have to say that the 19
>>year old should face charges.  After all anyone of legal adult status should
>>know better than to take advantage of an impressionable child.  I guess for
>>me its a matter of degree.
>
>
>Maybe, maybe not.  I mean, to me personally a 19 year old and a 12 year
>old is a bit sick.  However, if it's a mature 12 year old and a mature
>19 year old, and that's what they want, why is it any of our business?
>
	I can't agree, no matter how mature a child is for their age they're
still a child. Very few 18 year olds are fully realized adults even though
they're viewed as such by the law.  Now that I'm 30+ its interesting to look
back and see the differences that only a year or two can make in the perspective
references of young people. As you get older your peer group expands to include
people several years your senior or junior in age.  It is my experience with
adolescents that what they know and what they think they know are two different
things.  I don't think a young boy should have to face criminal charges for
sexual experimentation, however beyond a certain point this is no longer
experimentation.  16 and 17 year olds while they may not have the emotional
maturity to deal with adult sexuality certainly are aware of what they are
doing.

>That's not the big problem with me, however.  The problem with me is
>the cases you hear about where the state's law was EIGHTEEN, and
>an 18 year old guy and a 17 year old girl are dating, the parents
>find out, and WHAM!  The guy's in jail and has his life ruined.  
>
>Plus, most statutory rape laws work only one way.  If a 35 year old
>woman has sex with a 10 year old boy, it's not statutory rape. They
>can be tried for "lewd conduct in front of a minor" and other things,
>but not statutory rape.  That's where it's descriminatory to me. <shrug>
>
>
	Here I agree, although one of the points to consider is that women
get pregnant, not men.  I know several women who've raised children of an
early pregnancy with no assistance whatsoever from the biological father.
I agree that statutory rape laws are unfair but they're part of a whole
big problem and not just an isolated situation.  I believe that statutory
rape laws were enacted as a form of birth control,an "if he's gonna' get 
arrested, he's gonna' keep it in his pants." kind of thing.  I think that
there should be laws protecting the young and naive but they shouldn't be
used just to enact revenge.

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-- 
---
 Robert L. Lamothe                           University of New Hampshire  
 rll@unh.edu                                 Interoperablity lab room 220  
                                                                             
 Just because you're not paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get you.  
---