ACLU of Florida Statement on Prosecution of 18-Year-Old Kaitlyn Hunt

[Ms. Toad]

86. There is a difference between the age of consent -

and the age at which a older participant can be prosecuted for the sexual activity.

We have activities that are crimes based solely on the age of the person engaging in that activity. Sexual intercourse, running away, tobacco, and alcohol use are a few examples. They are activities for which a juvenile can be adjudicated delinquent regardless of whether there was any adult involved or not.

So - a younger participant can be adjudicated delinquent by reason of sexual activity (in the same way in many states she can be adjuducated delinquent by reason of running away - both "crimes" which are age based.) The age of consent does not have anything inherently to do with the age of the partner - it has to do with whether it is legal for someone of a particular age to have sex with anyone.

Beyond that, there is the additional question of who, if anyone, can be prosecuted for statutory rape or contributing to the delinquency of a minor. That is largely a separate question - the one at issue here.

Based on a summary (without pulling the collection of laws in each state), Kaitlyn could not be prosecuted in at least Arkansas, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, New Mexico, New Jersey, Maine, Iowa, Hawaii, DC, and Colorado - either because the age difference was not great enough, or because she was not old enough to be charged with this particular crime. (And Florida is actually on the list because if this was heterosexual intercourse, Kaitlyn could not be charged unless she was 24 - she is being charged not for rape but for a lesser offense under a slightly different statute. The laws really are a mish mash, with lots of variation which it is hard to capture in a single chart.)

As for prosecutions for one day apart, in California, Idaho, and Wisconsin the age of consent is one 18 and there is not age difference provision. So an 18 year old "adult" could be charged with rape of a 17 year and 364 day old "child" if they had sexual intercourse on the birthday of the 18 year old.

The interpretation of "Romeo and Juliet" statutes as keeping people off the sex registry but maintaining the conviction is a new one to me. I'm generally familiar with rape laws - so I know how age of consent and statutory rape laws generally work - but have not specifically spent much time reviewing state by state laws since sex offender registries became the rage, so that may well be another permutation, but it is not how they have traditionally worked for at least the 4 decades I've worked in issues of rape.