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

[MADem]

91. In your summary, the victim in Florida has to be sixteen for the 24 y.o. thing to kick in.

The age of consent is eighteen, but a sixteen year old can have sex with someone 24 and under and the "exception" applies.

But this kid was fourteen, wasn't she? She was below the age at which, according to your chart, she was capable of offering consent.

I am not approaching this from the victim's "delinquency," I think it has more to do with the fact that children who are below the age of consent do not have the ability to offer consent. The perpetrator in those sorts of cases is guilty of a crime, but it's usually something along the lines of "contributing to the delinquency of a minor" or has that kind of flavor in terms of seriousness (misdemeanor instead of felony, with no sex offender registry record). Or maybe the offense will fall under the "lewd and lascivious" rubric discussed (scroll down a bit) on this message board: http://www.expertlaw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2652

That's usually how I've seen it play out, anyway.

I think the perpetrator is probably in a bit of legal jeopardy, unless she has a good lawyer who can persuade the victim's parents to back off. The sticking point is the age of the victim in this situation. If she were sixteen, it would be a different situation, even though the age of consent is eighteen in FL.