An interesting case study
Here is a news report of a Nebraska man who is being charged for having sex with a 13 year old girl. The catch? They're married. The families were pretty supportive of their marriage since he had gotten her pregnant, but the state gvt doesn't agree. Your thoughts?
posted by Cuteasaurus @ 1:36 PM
1 Comments:
At July 31, 2005 at 11:48 PM,
Unknown said…
I have to agree with Kennon here. This is one of those cases where you have to look beyond the law for what is right/just. The point of stat rape laws is that we (society) assume that someone under 16 cannot actually consent to sex. The blanket assumption is for the protection of the minor because we don't want to make a determination of the minor's maturity in every case. When all parents AND a court AND the minor agree to allow the minor to marry, that assumption is no longer necessary. We basically say that enough capability has been proven to warrant an exception to the assumption. Is this guy a pedophile? He most likely is since he got a 13 year-old pregnant. But the article seemed to imply that the family members involved think that the minor is not being harmed, so I'll trust that they know what's going on with the girl's life better than the prosecutor. Of course the pre-marriage relations broke the law, so there should be consequences, but assuming he actually cares for the girl and the child, then justice doesn't require a stiff penalty.
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