Statutory Rape

662 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The problem with statutory rape laws

The statutory rape law states that having sexual intercourse or being involved sexually in any form with a child below the age of sixteen is unlawful and could have charges pressed against as well as face imprisonment in a state prison or correctional facility. The law also states that one gender isn’t recognized more than the other; under the law children should be protected equally. Statutory rape is sex that occurs between an adult and a minor; an adult eighteen years or older and a minor is considered sixteen years or younger. The underlying principle behind the statutory rape law is the fact that children below the age of sixteen are incapable of giving their consent on sexual activities. Although the law states that all children are treated equally under the law, in several cases the court has chosen one gender over the other and the majority of the time the boys are the one who is faced with charges rather than girls (Oberman, 1994)
There are far more males serving for statutory rape within prisons than females. There are hardly any females reported being charged with statutory rape or being sued for the same crime. The law does state that males and females have the same punishment for statutory rape (Christopher, 2012). However, in many cases young boys do not report the crime because they look at it as an act of becoming a man to have sexual relations with not only young girls but older women as well. There are several cases in which young boys are charged with the crime of statutory rape even when all parties are involved and gave their consent. For example in one case, a fourteen year old boy was charged with statutory rape for being involved in sexual activities with three girls who were younger than the boy, two of th...

... middle of paper ...

...t comes to sex between two children below the age of sixteen, boys are the one charged with statutory rape.
In 1995 a study was conducted to see how many teenagers were sexually active or had been involved sexually in any way. The study revealed that, by the age of sixteen, 50% of teenagers in the U.S have had been involved in sexual intercourse (Oberman, 1994). There was another study that was conducted statewide surveying young girls from 8th grade to 12th grade. The survey asked about what age was the young girls when they first had sex and the age of their sexual partners. The survey excluded intercourse that was by force. Girls who were between the ages thirteen to eighteen did not have a partner that was much older than them. However younger girls between the ages of eleven to twelve said that their partners were five or more years older (Leitenberg, 2000).

Show More
Related

  • The Recidivism Rate of Juvenile Sex Offenders between Uses of Legal Sentencing as Adults or Utilizing Psychological Treatment

    2292 Words  | 5 Pages

    Juvenile sex offenders are individuals that range in ages between six and seventeen years. There is a differentiation between what is considered a juvenile sex offender and a juvenile rapist. A juvenile rapist is generally older in the adolescent years and their victimology will be someone who is older than they are and they generally use a weapon. These crimes will also be usually male on female crimes and occur in public areas. Whereas the juvenile sex offender victimology will generally be younger than them, usually by around five years, but still at ti...

    Read More

  • Sexual Assault in Australia

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sexual assault is the act of sexual intercourse without consent of the other person according to New South Wales Consolidation Act of 1900 (Austlii 2011) and is also described by the Australian Standard Offence Classification as ‘non-consensual’ acts or intents of sexual nature (ASOC 2008, p. 31) has become one of the most predominate crimes creating social harm in Australia. Social harm is defined as the negative influence through consequences impacting from the individual to the living conditions of the surrounding public (Cain & Howe 2008, p. 26). Sexual assault poses a social threat to all aspects of community, spreading insecurity in the 9000 victims across Australia and 1900 victims in NSW alone as indicated in the Australian Bureau of Statistics Crime Victimisation Report (ABS 2011, p. 40). This is supported by the victimization rate of all sexually assaulted victims between ages 10 to 14 being 4 times greater than all the other age groups (ABS 2010). Another major issue within the boundaries of sexual assault is that it holds one of the lowest prosecution rates with only 1 in 10 incidents able to prosecute the offender as guilty (Fitzgerald 2006, Pg. 1). The abundance of statistics and reports conducted all imply that sexual assault is still a predominate issue of crime within Australia.

    Read More

  • Date Rape

    562 Words  | 2 Pages

    On the article “On a Date Rape” by Camille Paglia, creates a controversy discussion about how women have reached freedom throughout the years and blames young feminist for being “over privileged”. Her belief is that women in general misuse the social freedom she so virtuously fought for. She also mentioned that her generation was aware of the risk that they were taking, while today’s generation does not. However, she blames any young lady who finds herself into a perilous situation for the tragedy that follows; moreover, Paglia’s article is unreliable due to the abuse of several fallacies such as hasty generalization, false analogy, false cause, poising well, false dilemma, slippery slope, as well as straw men.

    Read More

  • Female Sex Offenders: Perception is Not Reality

    1632 Words  | 4 Pages

    The acceptance that the court system often treats female offenders differently than male offenders is an accurate statement; however, it comes with many caveats. Generally, the public views women as nurturers, motherly and incapable of harming a child. Research indicates that female sex offenders capable of committing such acts have serious psychiatric and psychological problems. In comparison, research indicates male sex offenders are more callous, more antisocial, and promiscuous, involved in the criminal justice system, and have more victims (Miccio-Fenseca, 2012, slide 7). The consensus is that men commit their acts for sexual pleasure while women commit their acts due to psychiatric and psychological problems. Law enforcement, juries, and judges tend to empathize more when there are additional mitigating factors such as emotional or psychological problems. Due to these mitigating factors, it appears treatment of female sex offenders is more lenient than male if their crimes are similar in nature. Research by Miccio-Fenseca (2012) indicates that in comparison to their male counterparts, “female sex offenders rarely use force or violence far less than often…rarely use threats of violence to silence victims…rarely use threats o...

    Read More

  • Date Rape

    889 Words  | 2 Pages

    The following morning is a dreadful, long one that stays with you forever. The memories in your mind keep crawling up every night when you fall asleep. You keep asking yourself, “Why did it happen to me? What did I do wrong?” Yet no answer comes to mind, all that you can think of is being violated, being misled for a simple task-rape. Why does it happen to us? What do the men see when the door is opened and a gorgeous women stands in front of their eyes. The mind collapses trying to find a solution to the problem. It's like having an exam and the only way for you to score is to cheat. So all girls are just scores guys try to push themselves upon? The mind grows blank and the human body works with sexual instinct. Date rape is one of those things that one man can't find a proper answer for. There are so many possibilities that one might think of as the cause of the problem. Which one is the right one? Is there one specific answer that is physiologically correct? No. Everyone has his or her own opinion, whether it is from experience or from common knowledge. Date rape is mainly cased by the in-proper behavior of the rapist. A man who can rape a woman has obviously been brought up in an uncomfortable, improper raised environment.

    Read More

  • Statutory Rape Essay

    837 Words  | 2 Pages

    Statutory rape laws are far from perfect. Statutory rape laws are discriminating towards boys and biased towards girls. No law should be gender specific especially one that consists of people who are endangering minors. These laws have discriminated boys for over 150 years. The law should be fair to both genders and give boys the voice the need in the cases. Over the years statutory rape cases have gone underreported, mainly because people do not witness the cases themselves. Most of the lost cases involve minor males and older females. Even though some cases have been reported they do not get as much publicity as the cases dealing with young girls and adult men. Boys should get the same amount of protection under the statutory rape laws as girls do; the young men are victims just as girls are.

    Read More

  • Date Rape

    910 Words  | 2 Pages

    report the incident. It is not in any way the woman's fault for being the

    Read More

  • Child Molestation

    828 Words  | 2 Pages

    On June 28, 1990, Mark E. Jones, a public school teacher from California, was charged with twenty-eight counts of lewd (lustful) conduct with four boys under the age of fourteen. Two of those boys, Sammy and Bobby, were his adopted sons and the other two boys, Andrew and Kenny, resided in the same neighborhood as him. Jones had oral intercourses with these children for two years before being arrested. In his trial, Jones denied the allegations and said that his two sons and Andrew were trying to accuse him of the molestation because he caught them performing the acts on each other (Jones). At the end of the trial, Jones was found guilty on twelve counts of lewd conduct, found not guilty of twelve counts, hung jury on three counts, and one count was dismissed before the trial. Jones was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

    Read More

  • Sexual Victimization of Women

    1171 Words  | 3 Pages

    It was once acceptable for men to have full control over women, declaring when they will marry and when they will have children. However, over the past centuries, women have established a place in society, proving themselves much more than someone's property. This is why the word “rape” today is not taken lightly. According to findlaw.com, “Rape generally refers to non-consensual sexual intercourse that is committed by physical force, threat of injury, or other duress.” When one does not give consent to sex, it is considered a felony, possibly putting the rapist in jail. Contrary to sexual assault, “Sex is reified as penile-vaginal intercourse while an extremely diverse group of pleasurable and sexually stimulating activities are dismissively relegated to the category of foreplay...” (Reinholtz, Muehlenhard, Phelps, & Satterfield, 1995.) Although consented sexual intercourse is much more out in the open and accepted in society, the problem of rape is still very relevant behind the scenes.

    Read More

  • Statutory Rape

    1089 Words  | 3 Pages

    After many years of prosecuting statutory rape laws, some people are being to question whether or not these laws when concerning non-violent “sex with a minor” are actually appropriate and effective in protecting the rights of minors. The people who support statutory rape laws would argue that in any relationship where one legal aged partner is significantly older than the other, the older of the two has a greater power advantage over the younger. Thus even if a person under the age of consent agrees to sexual activity, it is still considered lawfully to be rape, because that person is not mature enough to make a well thought-out decision. Adults fear that the younger person in the relationship may be unconsciously forced emotionally, if not physically, into engaging in sexual acts with their partner. According to the Taking Sides (Issue 17), “Statutory rape laws are designed, in part, to keep these types of unequal relationships from becoming human nature.”

    Read More

  • Statutory Rape Laws

    853 Words  | 2 Pages

    The fact that the actual age of consent varies all over the world from age 13-18 is evidence to prove that there are many different opinions in regards to when an individual is considered mature. Statutory rape laws have slowly been morphed into laws that are being used as an attempt to stop unwanted consequences from teen sex. This is where many opposing views arise. Statutory rape laws are being abused by wrongly convicting teens engaging in consensual sex as an attempt to help prevent the unwanted consequences of teen sex.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Statutory Rape

    1270 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the century that we are living in, when people hear the term statutory rape it only means one thing, one grown man and a teenage girl having sexual relations. But what if I tell you that statutory rape has way more complications then that. Would you believe me? What if I tell you that the law of statutory rape should be reviewed and revise because it is confusing, bias and unfair. Would you be on my side? When statutory rape is brought up people never thinks about what happened to the two teens that just got caught having intercourse. Or what happen to that female teacher that just got caught doing the hanky-panky with that teenage boy. These questions never been thought of after the incident had occurred. But I guaranteed that if it was a thirty year old man with a girl that’s under the age of 18 everybody in states, out of states, different continents and maybe even different planets would have known and made sure that something would have happened to that man.

    Read More

  • Exemplification Essay: Sex Education In Public Schools

    1130 Words  | 3 Pages

    A study conducted on teens in Sweden and the Netherlands showed that teens in those countries were just as sexually active, but the teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease rate was much lower. Researchers say this is due to sex education that begins in elementary school and continues on(Bender p.13). Only ten percent of American school-age youth participate in a comprehensive program lasting at least forty hours(deMauro p.89). Teens in America also score low on questionnaires based on sexual knowledge(Gordon p.

    Read More

  • Teenagers and Sex

    431 Words  | 1 Pages

    The survey was conducted to see what young Americans had to say about sex. Sex is something that teenagers are faced with everyday. Peer pressure and trying to fit in with the crowd; seems to be a major reason why teenagers are having sex today. The survey proved that today’s teenagers are more aware of the consequences of having sex, and it is not a game to play around with.

    Read More

  • Comprehensive Sex Education In Schools

    1047 Words  | 3 Pages

    Martinez, Gladys, Joyce Abma, and Casey Copen. “Educating Teenagers About Sex In The United States”. CDC.GOV. Center of Disease Control and Prevention, 15 Sept. 2010. Web. 09 Feb.2014

    Read More

More about Statutory Rape

Open Document