Statutory rape is a term referring to sexual activities in which at least one of the partners is below the legal age of consent, specifically in the teenage years. While it is always considered a crime, it should be noted that statutory rape differs from usual interpretations of rape in the sense that both partners are acting under each other's consent and there is usually no use of force or threat.
Statutory rape commonly refers to acts of sex between an adult and a minor, but it can also include sex between two minors If there’s a five year age difference
Controversy[]
Since the law states that a person must reach a certain age before having legal sex, statutory rape laws assume that even if the minor willingly engage in sex, such activities were not consensual since they weren't at legal age. However, it has been argued that minors are old enough to know sexual knowledge and make decisions over such, while some adults are never mature enough to make sexual decisions of their own.
It has also been argued that since committing sexual intercourse with a minor is considered rape, local laws have required for the prosecution of those who had sex with a minor who was acting under consent.
Under the case of two minors engaging in sexual activity, a set of laws regarding the issue called the "Romeo and Juliet laws," were passed into effect.
A common controversial occurrence in the criminal process of statutory rape is the gender double standard. Usually, when the man is older than the girl, he will get a long sentence, such as 20 years, while women get "a slap on the wrist." Many agree with this standard, remarking that all boys dream about sex with attractive teachers and that no male will refuse sexual advances.
On Criminal Minds[]
- Mark Gregory ("Charm and Harm") - Had sex with his then-fifteen-year-old girlfriend in 1989 and was sentenced for the crime.
- Benjamin Cyrus ("Minimal Loss") - Was convicted of three counts of statutory rape and also married to a young adolescent girl, Jessica Evanson, whom he most likely had sex with.
- Margaret Hallman ("I Love You, Tommy Brown") - Had consensual sex with one of her high-school students in 2007 during her career as a schoolteacher, but was caught. The charges were dropped, but three years later, she had sex with another student, and this time, she was sentenced for the crime. While in prison, Margaret gave birth to her second lover's son, naming the boy after the first student she molested.
- Paige Lincoln ("Pariahville") - Had apparently consensual sex with one of her students, but was caught in the act, convicted, and registered as a sex offender. She moved to Glenport Village, a community inhabited by mostly sex offenders, and married a man named Kyle, a fellow sex offender who had a cheerleader fetish.