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Statutory Rape Laws

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There are debates on whether or not the laws for statutory rape are strict enough. The age of consensual sex varies from state to state. In some states the age of consent is 16 while others start at the age of 17. Though many of these teens may be physically ready to engage in sex, many of them are not mentally prepared. In their article, “Enforce Statutory Rape Laws to Curb Teen Sex”, Kathleen Sylvester and Jonathan O’Connell talk about relationships between 12, 13 and 14 year old girls and sexually mature men who are inherently unequal, often coercive and almost always damaging. Many of these girls find themselves engaging in sexual activities with much older men. Until stricter laws are put into place, as well as parents explaining these …show more content…

Often times these relationships go unnoticed until the young girl either becomes pregnant or gets diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease. In her article, “Can Statutory Rape laws be effective in preventing adolescent Pregnancy”, Patricia Donavan, talks about how no state currently requires reproductive health care providers to gather and report information on the identity of sexual partners (unless they have reason to suspect a young woman had been abused). Many times, the young ladies fail to undergo testing in fear of revealing who gave them the disease. If she does, she won’t be honest to protect them. In some cultures, it is accepted, even encouraged for young girls to have relationships with older men. A family may promise their young daughter to a much older man, in part because he will help support their family …show more content…

Bill Hughley, Executive Director of the Rockdale Coalition for Children and Families, said “state wide statistics illustrate that high risk sexual behavior among teenagers is a growing problem as young teenagers begin to experiment with sex with people much older than them (Jones, par 4). Many of these teens are engaging in sex not realizing that if both partners are not within the same age bracket they could be committing a crime. There is an exception for teenagers convicted of statutory rape and child molestation included as part of so called “Romeo and Juliet Laws” teenagers as long as they are not more than four years apart-to be charged only with misdemeanors and they would not be requires to register as sex

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