Another sex poll

[BainsBane]

45. since someone accused me of trying to entrap

DUers by betting them to admit to violating the law , I looked it up. Firstly, the poll was about views, not the law. As in the case of the other two polls, the law and what people think is right can differ, and people were free to make that distinction as they did in other polls. As for the law, it turns out states vary a great deal on sex between minors, and 12 is one year too young for most. Many states have laws that say having sex with someone younger than thirteen is against the law, and they differ in how many years must separate the person charged, generally three to four. There are various degrees of charges in any state. For example, in MN a 15 yr old can legally have sex with a 12 year old but a 16 yr old cannot. In California, sex with anyone under 18 is illegal. http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/08/sr/statelaws/statelaws.shtml
Most states, however, differentiate culpability based on the age of the older person. Some have worse penalties for someone ten years older than the young teenager. Some of the Southern states like MS wave statutory rape charges in the event of marriage. The legal age for marriage must be low there.

After having looked at some of those laws, I should have set the lower age of the poll at 13.