"Without age 18 or adult registration, however, you prosecute something "even worse than rape" although I can't think of a proper term for it right now."
I think "Statutory Rape" is defined as such because it is defined by statutory law, i.e. it's consensual sex, but because of a law defining age of consent, if one of the parties are not legally of the age of consent the other is guilty of statutory rape. Presently the law defines the category by chronological age. In some cases they allow for parental approval to by-pass these laws.
I think even if the laws were re-written to allow more flexibility based on actual maturity (which might require a battery of tests) instead of arbitrary age makers, it would still be considered "Statutory Rape".
I think perhaps allowing more mature young people the option to test out of the age-limit without requiring parental permission might be a better solution to the arbitrary problem.
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Date: 2009-Oct-11, Sunday 09:23 pm (UTC)I think "Statutory Rape" is defined as such because it is defined by statutory law, i.e. it's consensual sex, but because of a law defining age of consent, if one of the parties are not legally of the age of consent the other is guilty of statutory rape. Presently the law defines the category by chronological age. In some cases they allow for parental approval to by-pass these laws.
I think even if the laws were re-written to allow more flexibility based on actual maturity (which might require a battery of tests) instead of arbitrary age makers, it would still be considered "Statutory Rape".
I think perhaps allowing more mature young people the option to test out of the age-limit without requiring parental permission might be a better solution to the arbitrary problem.