Family Watchdog Issue 8 Claims:

We just don't even understand this statement

Human Rights Watch Statement

(page 73) These exceptions still leave many teenagers at risk of being labeled as sex offenders for engaging in sexual conduct that is legal for adults.

Family Watchdog's Conclusion (Response)

???

Background

No state law holds that a sexual offense commited by a teenager is illegal while the same act committed by an adult is legal.

The Following by eAdvocate:

I particularly love this comment "No state law holds that a sexual offense commited by a teenager is illegal while the same act committed by an adult is legal."

Scenario: If two consenting teenagers (one under 16) have sex, every state I know considers that illegal. In those same states, if two consenting adults have sex, those states consider that legal. Right? Can anyone explain FW's comment? Yes FW, it makes a difference when you ignore the word "consensual."

OK, lets see what HRW really said:

Consensual Teenage Sex
Some of the sexual behaviors by youth that lead to a sex offense conviction and the application of sex offender laws do not involve the sort of acts or intent normally associated with criminal offenses. Most child behavior experts agree that sexual experimentation is a normal part of a young person’s development.250 Some of the youthful offenders who are currently required to register as sex offenders were exploring their sexuality, or engaging in other typical adolescent behavior such as genital play or consensual sexual intercourse.

According to a survey conducted by the US Department of Health and Welfare, by age 14, more than one-third of the survey’s respondents reported genital play with another youth under the age of 18, and about one-fifth had started having sexual intercourse.251 By age 16, over 40 percent of both sexes report intercourse, and that rises to 55 percent for both boys and girls at age 17.252 Child development experts agree that consensual sex play among children, including intercourse between teenagers, “is not psychologically harmful under ordinary circumstances and is probably a valuable psychosocial experience in developmental terms.”253

Every state in the United States criminalizes sexual activity with someone below the “age of consent,” a crime typically called “statutory rape.” Legislators have created “Romeo and Juliet” exceptions to these laws so as to lessen or eliminate criminal penalties for young people close in age who have non-coercive sex with each other.

At least 39 states exclude at least some teenage voluntary sexual activity from the category of statutory rape, typically by either setting a minimum age for the defendant (for example, 16 or 17) and/or by specifying that there is no crime committed if the defendant is no more than a specified number of years older than the victim (typically between two and four years).

These exceptions still leave many teenagers at risk of being labeled as sex offenders for engaging in sexual conduct that is legal for adults. At least 28 states require registration as a sex offender for someone convicted of having consensual sex with another teenager, if the offender was either age 17 or two years older than the other party. In 11 states, there are no “Romeo and Juliet” exceptions; anyone who has sex with a person below the minimum age of consent is committing a crime and could, if convicted, be required to register as a sex offender.

Well! To me HRW makes sense, when you read all of what they said instead of picking out a small sentence in the middle ignoring everything else, then trying to claim that small sentence makes no sense.


Family Watchdog!