Save our TexSONS – An interesting read about Texas law in cases of consensual sex between minors or a minor and an adult — what most states call “statutory rape”. In the story, Ray had just turned 18 when he had sex with his girlfriend, Judy, who said she was 17, looked like 17, but was actually 14. Texas law treats offenders differently based on the age difference between the two. If the difference is 36 months or more, the charge is sexual assault against a child, and leads to consequences like these:
[Ray] was forced to transfer to a college in his hometown and break an apartment lease. He cannot come home to enjoy family gatherings because of his siblings and the fact that the family home is across the street from a playground and a pool. He can have no contact with children or teens. He will be on probation and watched very carefully for five years, but his mother says the most heartbreaking aspect is that he will be listed as a sexual predator for the rest of his life.
“Ray was 19 at the time of the conviction and because he was not in a long-term relationship of two years or more, preferably cohabiting, he is considered by the court a high risk or level three offender.” He must remain in the county where he was convicted for five years and cannot even visit extended family members because he has nieces and nephews under 17. Ray must also submit to DNA testing, pay fines and court costs totaling over $1,000, report to a probation officer twice each month and pay monthly fees of $50. He is also subject to random alcohol and drug testing as well as polygraphs. He must attend weekly group therapy sessions for sex offenders, a group of primarily middleaged and older men who tend to like young children and share nothing in common with Ray.
He cannot use the Internet for his college studies, has to register as a sex offender at school and cannot attend any of his school’s extracurricular activities for fear that someone 17 or younger may also be in attendance. Ray is no longer involved with volunteer work because he is busy picking up trash along roadsides and in parks to fulfill his 300-hour community service requirement.
This issue is more than hypothetical to me; I know a young man who is in the same predicament as Ray. Does it seem as ridiculous to anyone else that we have such ludicrous punishments for teen sex? Certainly we want to have protections against adults taking advantage of children. But teenagers’ bodies are sexually mature long before age 18. Nature is going to lead them into temptation — prom night happens, parking happens.
What is a young man supposed to do, ask for ID on a date? ID’s can be faked. The 36-month guideline is a good start — what sane 17/18/19/20-year-old boy would want to date a girl younger than 14/15/16/17-years-old? But the courts should not slap a mandatory minimum and automatic conviction against the boy if the girl consented (or initiated) the sex and went to great lengths to fool the boy about her age. And certainly not to the extent of sex offender registration and mandatory drug/alcohol/DNA/polygraph testing.
A 14-17-year-old girl deciding she wants to have sex is not a crime. This mindset of keeping girls virginal until age 18 by locking up or threatening their boyfriends, teaching them abstinence-only education, and restricting their access to birth control and abortion flies in the face of nature and common sense.
