About those 400 defrocked pedophile priests: Where are they now?

[Xithras]

6. It's not even that.

A large portion of the priests had sex with a teenager 16 or older which is statutory rape.

In most of the U.S., having sex with a 16 year old isn't even a prosecutable crime. In states where it is statutory rape, or where special exemptions in the law exist to prosecute those in power positions who engage in them, the statutes of limitations are very short.

Here in California, for example, child molestation has a statute of limitations that basically boils down to "8 years after it's reported to the police". If a child is molested at 10, and doesn't report it until they're 30, the abuser can be prosecuted until the victim is 38.

With statutory rape in the same state, the statute of limitations is 1 year for misdemeanor "touching", or a maximum of 3 years for actual copulation or penetration. If a 30 year old sleeps with a 17 year old, and the 17 year old doesn't report it for 5 years, the older person gets away with it.

Many of these priests are being defrocked for crimes that happened decades ago. In most of these cases, the option of prosecuting doesn't exist any longer.