papasmerf said:
See, that's the point....I don't see that a rape occurred and neither did the judge. Rightly so I might add. The only factor in determining whether a rape actually occurred or not is the basis that the girl was not able to give consent. That is the argument. I believe she DOES have the capacity to give consent and she even went so far as to admit it.
I bring this up because when I was in highschool, a classmate was charged with statutory rape when we were in grade 12. THe story went that he went to a dance at another school, met a girl, they started dating, ended up having sex, the parents found out and had him charged. His only mistake was not checking the girl's ID to see how old she was. Did he rape her? Nope, they dated for months after the sex occurred and wanted to see him even after he was charged. Her parents wouldn't allow it.
According to the kneejerk reactions here, he should have been hanged. THAT is what's wrong with kneejerk reactions.
Sheik: on the surface, yes in OUR society it is ethically wrong for an 18 yr old to have sex with a 13 yr old but whenever is the law or ethics so cut and dried? In this case, the judge determined that it wasn't cut and dried (unlike most on here as per usual) that there were extenuating circumstances and sentenced the boy to an appropriate jail term, and appropriate probation and councilling. I'm not sure of the laws up here but in doing research anyone can marry a person under 16 with some states requiring parental permission and other states requiring court approval.
Thankfully there are judges out there who DO have a modicrum of intelligence and are not simply drones to apply the law with a heavy hand.
I also think there is an issue here with the race of the boy which in and of itself is another issue all together.
In fact, I'd go so far as to send the authorities after the parents who taught this kid a distorted sense of reality. That is a pure case of child abuse if I ever saw one. In my opinion that is no different than if they sexually or physically abused him.
I wholeheartedly and unabashedly agree that using one's age to determine automatic guilt or innocence is just about as wrong as wrong can be. I have met quite a few 13 yr olds who had the maturity level of a 20 yr old and many 20 yr olds who had the maturity level of a 13 yr old. I think a person's mental or maturity capacity should be considered before rendering any sort of verdict.
I will also cite the example of where a friend of mine had twins, a boy and girl. I first met them when they were 13 and later found out the girl got into trouble because she got drunk in a bar. Yep. 13 yrs old and was served in a bar. When I first met them I would swear she was 18 or more and was shocked when I found out she was only 13. She dressed, acted and looked 18. The boy? He dressed acted and looked like he was 11 because he hadn't sprouted yet.
I will also cite the time I was standing in line at shoppers drug mart. There was this chick in front of me. She was wearing daisy dukes that showed off the bottom of her cheeks. I could see the lace thong over the waist of the shorts. She had a short crop top on and had a matching lace puch up bra. She had curly brown hair down to her shoulder blades, was wearing cfm sandals and was about 5'5" and maybe 115 lbs. 34C 22 34 or thereabouts. I was thinking HOLY crap, what a hottie....then she turned around......I could only tell by her face that she was easily 13 or 14......going on 20 I might add. And before anyone else jumps to conclusions, from the back ANY one of you would have thought the same thing seeing her from behind...none of you could have guessed that she was so young by the way she was dressed......
