Would you support abolishing the federal age of consent?

I MEANT LIMITING THE FEDERAL AGE OF CONSENT, NOT ABOLISHING SORRY

OK, I saw an article in a magazine today where the writer, a woman, had a consentual relationship with a 22 year old man. In her state, it was legal, thanks to a lower age of consent, and they are now married. However, in some cases, the states' age of consent if irrelevant. For example, she cited one case where the "victim" was over the age of consent, but because the adult had only been in the state for less than a year, his old states' age of consent still applied, because he was not yet considered a legal resident of the new state. He was arrested and charged as a sexual predator.

The writers pushes for states to decide the age of consent, and for federal age of consent (to only apply for commercial use (porn, prostitution, etc), and that using a minor in porn or any other adult industry should be a federal crime, and that it should also apply anytime a adult crosses state lines just to have sex with a minor.

She also pushes for a national romeo & Juliet law, as well as criminal seduction laws.
For those that don't know romeo & Juliet laws, also known as close age exemptions, make it legal for teenagers to have sexual relationships. In Indiana, someone 14-15 can consent to sex with someone up to 4 years older.
Criminal seduction laws make it a felony for someone in a position of authority, guardian, teacher, police officer, etc to have sex with anyone under the age of 18, even if the minor consents and is over the age of consent.

She also talks about how many people are in prison on child porn charges because their legal gf/bf, sent them a nude picture for in private, and they had it on their phone or computer. She pushes for an exemption for situations where private images are sent between people in an otherwise legal relationship.

 

Somehow, age difference should matter? I can see calling a 45 year old going after a 16 year old being a "sexual predator", but an 18 year old going after a 16 year old is a PEER.

 

Gee, we should have 330 separate million legal codes tailored to each individual in the country, and covering every possible anecdotal story anybody without enough to do can dream up and post on the innernetz.

"NAMBLA" logic - an extreme absolutist position which demands that for logical consistencies sake that certain gross crimes be allowed, in order that no one might feel restrained.
Stirling S. Newberry

 

Age of consent is a state issue.

 

Even better; we should have 330 million separate legal codes for each state and our territories. No problem.

 

We don't need to encourage child rape and pedophilia.

 

25 is the new 18, according to those who like to screw off in college for 7 or 8 years getting that economically vital Ancient Mayan Basket Weaving Techniques degree, so why not go with what all those 'educated voter' types in the Democratic Party keep trying to tell us is relevant? Kick it up to 25, and it would be close to current maturity levels these days.

 

Heh.

I just find it funny that legal adults are often still too young to legally consume alcohol. Laws can be pretty funny.

 

In some cases they can be, but it's just not viable to individualize them based on somebody's personal opinions of themselves or notes from their mommies or something asserting their kidz are 'speshul' and should be exempt from compliance, so those unhappy with any restrictions on their mindless self-indulgence just have to suck it up and move along.

 

Should be, but federal laws are more lax than most state laws.

 

I would support a national AOC of 16 with a 5 year buffer for the romeo & Juliet cases

"She also talks about how many people are in prison on child porn charges because their legal gf/bf, sent them a nude picture for in private, and they had it on their phone or computer. She pushes for an exemption for situations where private images are sent between people in an otherwise legal relationship."

I also support that, wrong to be legal for two 17 year olds to have sex, but sexting be a crime, now if the picture were forwarded to a member not in the relationship, that would be different

.

 

Not a delegated power of Congress, there should be no federal age of consent.

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Ugh. No more of this. They already bribed the states into making the drinking age 21 and it's annoying. The harm could be further ignoring the rule of law, empowering Congress to do whatever it wants and to bribe the states into doing what they want with the tax dollars we sent them.

 

Quite frankly, I think that the laws are too strict. In some states it's hardset that sex with anyone under 18 is statutory rape. I don't mean like "his 18th birthday was a week before hers, and for that week it was statutory sex", I mean, "he's 17, she's 17, and they both are statutory rapists because they had sex with someone under 18".

But no matter how you shake it, it is a hard one. It's easy to say that some statutory rape laws are draconic, but it's hard to set an alternative limit that really makes sense in all cases.

 

What harm? Isn't it quite draconic? A sixth of teens had sex before they turned fifteen, and half of current high schoolers have had sex. You'd make them all criminals by statute, and you wonder, "what harm"?

https://rewire.news/article/2014/03/25/golden-age-teen-sexual-responsibilty/

 

... Anyway, I think it's funny because a legal adult shoudn't be treated like a child by the state, but it's doing just that when it tells an adult they're not allowed to consume alcohol, like a parent restricting what a child can have.

 

Looking around at what alleged 'adults' get up to, it shouldn't surprise anybody that the authorities do indeed need to provide some guidance, and a (*)(*)(*)(*)(*) slap in some circumstances, to 'adults'. Many have apparently never made it through puberty yet.

 

Indeed, which is why statutory standards are desirable, otherwise you have a bunch of idiots running around whining because "one person got away with x so why can't I?" clogging up the courts.

 

If you are old enough to get drafted, dropped into combat, and shot and killed for your country, you are old enough to drink a beer or throw back a shot of whiskey.

 

I don't think any state should lower it from 16, but then that should be up to the states.

 

The more people are babied, the more they'll behave like babies...

 

There is no federal age of consent. It's not the business of the federal government.

 

Yes there is. It's 18. States have authority over their own jurisdictions, but the federal government still has the authority to enforce their own laws.

For example, an adult from one state can be charged with rape, under federal law, if he travels to another state to have sex with a minor, even if the minor is over the age of consent. The state age of consent only applies to relationships between residents of the same state. Federal law applies to all else.

The issue is that there are certain technicalities, such as those I mentioned in the OP, which allow the federal government to charge crimes in otherwise legal relationships.

 

Why would the two be related? The need for booze and drunks is less than zero, while training young men to defend and fight to defend their families, then tribes, then states is as old as human society; just because one is old enough to fight doesn't mean they need to be boozing it up because they can suddenly handle it because they can handle the other. A 10 year old can learn to defend his mother and sisters, many do it instinctively already anyway, if they're normal males.

 

Spoken like someone who has never been shot at. You completely miss the point.

People should not be mere cannon fodder, which is what you have just reduced them to. If you are old enough to be forced to engage in combat, you are old enough to drink whatever you damn well please.