This is a moral issue, consenual sex. Sex offender guidelines need to be created with age considerations, if consenual, between offender and victim.

There should be levels like 1st degree, second degree, third degree.

1st degree - All forced sex is 1st degree.

2nd degree - Consenual, with more than 10 years difference.

3rd degree - between 5 and 10 years, and

Statutory Sex - less than 5 years between offender and victim, with victim being over 14.

Of course, each one should be looked at for all circumstances. I know of many high school seniors who have failed 1 time, and due to late birthdays could be 19 and date a freshman, 14 or 15.

Throughout years, it has be common for most girls to date boys a few years older.

1) How many marriages are both the same age?

2) How can a state give approval for an underage girl to

marry, but it is illegal to have sex with her boyfriend?

3) How can a girl under 18 be said to not be able to have the

maturity to decide to have sex, yet can get on a highway

and drive a vehicle that can kill people if she makes a

mistake.

4) Should the boy be labeled a sex offender for life?

5) Should society have to pay to keep them in prison when they

violate?

6) How will the girl feel if the boy she may love is put in

prison due to their relationship?

7) What will the imprisonment due to her?

8) Society has always felt that girls mature faster than boys,

how many boys really feel that dating a girl a few years

younger is a crime?

9) How much is going on in every high school in the country?

10) What if the offender is a boy, with AD&D, emotionally

handicapped, who is definitely not mature for his age, do

you think he competently understands that his relationship

could cause him decades of probation, pain, prison,

ostericizing?

11) How many Romeo sex offenders thoughout the country have

been brutalized or murdered, due to their residence being

listed on the sex offender website, and some vigilante

deciding to punish them for their crime, not realized it

may have been 2 teenage lovers?

This is an additional burden on society that is already burdened by overcrowded prisons which causes other criminals to have to be released or given probation, when they probably shouldn't.

If labeled a sex offender, it will prevent the boy from getting certain jobs, limit places to live, and will be a great factor in contributing him to failing in life, turning to crime to survive, and possibly turning into a fugitive due to the strict restrictions they must live under. All because 2 teenagers may called themselves in love, maybe they weren't, maybe it was a mistake, maybe the parents were upset with their child, maybe thinking they were being taken advantage of. But life is full of mistakes, hopefully you learn by them and become a better person.

We need to evaluate this law objectively. Romeo is not the problem facing our country with all the child rapes and murders. And our overburdoned probation system is having to keep track of these types of offenders, rather than concentrating on the more serious ones.

Does all this make sense? I'm not saying to not punish at all, just within reasonable limits, depending on the situation.

HELP SAVE CHILDREN FROM SEXUAL ABUSE!

Please visit our website, www.therapy-key.com and read the info. Then, submit your petition(s) if you wish.

88% of molesters are never reported by the kids. Some of these offenders would like to stop, but they need therapy.

CATCH 22: Therapists must report molesters, and they face jail. So they don't get help--and neither do their victims.

We need sensible new laws! Please see www.therapy-key.com.

Thank you!

Betty Schneider

Director, Therapy Key

-- Betty Schneider

That having sex is the worst thing that can happen to a girl.

Good stuff.

Rape is not consensual. If we define 18 y.o.:15 y.o. sex to be statutory rape, it cannot be consensual, because the statutes determine that the 15 y.o. is not emotionally intelligent enough yet to give her consent to the older person.

>18-year-old getting banned from working in certain jobs >and places -- in other words, being stigmatized for years >for sex that might actually have been consensual.

That being said, I feel little pity for the above 18-year-old. I regret having sex at the age of 17, and I now deeply resent the then 21 y.o. who took my virginity.

There are reasons why sex with minors is defined to be rape. It's a slippery slope, and let's do what it takes to avoid the slide.

It shouldn't be called "statutory rape". That's part of the problem. In the UK it's called "underage sex", which is more appropriate.

It shouldn't be called "statutory rape". That's part of the problem. In the UK it's called "underage sex", which is more appropriate.

There's a difference in a 15-year-old (which was how old I was as a HS sophomore) having sex with her 18-year-old boyfriend (which is the age of a lot of HS seniors), and a 15-year-old having sex with a 40-year-old. Romeo and Juliet laws are called that because in the play, BOTH Romeo and Juliet were teenagers.

I'll agree that there is a lot of gray area, but we have to draw a line somewhere. Here's what I'd propose for statuatory rape laws:

1. It has to be consensual.

2. At least one of the parties must be at or over the age of 18.

3. The underage party can't be more than three years younger than the adult. Thus, a 15-year-old can have sex with an 18-year-old, a 16-year-old with a 19-year-old, etc.

4. It doesn't matter whether the older party is male or female or if the interaction is heterosexual or homosexual.

5. Oral and anal sex are sex. Copping a feel is not.

6. When everybody's 18 or over, they're their own idiots.

Not that I think 15-year-olds ought to be having sex with anybody, but we have to take reality into consideration.

Please note that in Shakespeare's day, "teenagers" like Romeo & Juliet were actually closer to "middle age." The normal age for marriage in Renaissance times was mid-teens, since life expectancy was only somewhere between 40 and 50. Therefore, as soon as they were physically mature, both boys and girls entered arranged marriages and hopefully began reproducing shortly thereafter.

Also, please keep in mind that R&J actually were MARRIED by Friar Laurence before they "did it!"

There's got to be a better literary metaphor for what's going on with today's adolescents than that. I mean besides Lolita.