Should a 13-Year-Old and Her 12-Year-Old Partner Really Be Considered Sex Offenders? [View all]

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by Martha Kempner, RH Reality Check

October 1, 2013 - 5:19 pm

Last Tuesday, the Utah Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that should make us once again reconsider our age-of-consent laws. In 2003, an unnamed 13-year-old girl had “consensual sex” with her then-12-year-old boyfriend. The state learned of this relationship when she became pregnant, filing delinquency petitions against both teens for having committing sexual abuse of a child. The young woman, who is now 23, wants the court to overturn the finding of delinquency. She and her attorney are arguing that she can’t be both the victim and the perpetrator of the exact same crime. Moreover, they say that she is not being treated fairly under the law because older teens are not prosecuted for engaging in sexual activity with someone of a similar age. The state, however, is not backing down, saying that it has an interest in protecting children, even if it is from other children.

As RH Reality Check has reported in the past, age-of-consent laws in this country vary by state and can be quite complicated. The specifics of each state’s law can result in some cases in which seemingly consensual relationships between teenagers (say a 15-year-old sophomore and her 18-year-old senior boyfriend) become criminal cases. Though the government has an interest in protecting teenagers from sexual exploitation, such cases must make us question whether criminalizing teen sex is the way to go, especially because the laws are unevenly enforced, often at the whim of an angry parent or overzealous law enforcement official.

The case in Utah is particularly disturbing because the teens in question were so young; while there may be disagreement among adults about whether 15- or 16-year-olds are mature enough for sexual relationships, most everyone agrees that 12- and 13-year-olds are not. Still, should too young automatically mean criminal? I would argue that very young teens who have sex do need adult intervention, but I don’t think those adults should be police officers, lawyers, and judges.

full: http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2013/10/01/should-a-13-year-old-and-her-12-year-old-partner-really-be-considered-sex-offenders/

Meanwhile I wonder if their PARENTS ever got any convictions for negligence? Shouldn't these kids have been taken to treatment instead, maybe taken away from their parents?