Statutory Rape and Law

¶ … Hypothetical Situation

Case Facts: Darryl is a 20-year-old man who has consensual sexual intercourse with Victoria, a 15-year-old girl. Darryl usually likes his sex to be very physical or rough in nature. Although she is uncomfortable with this, Victoria goes along because she would be embarrassed if Darryl thought she was inexperienced. Unbeknownst to either of them, Victoria is pregnant at the time that she and Darryl have intercourse. Due to the rough nature of their actions, Victoria miscarried resulting in the death of the unborn child.

The first issue presented in this case is whether the Darryl committed statutory rape since Victoria was a minor at the time of the incident. The second legal issue in this case is whether Darryl committed feticide, which is an act that contributes to the death of an unborn fetus, though he did not know about the pregnancy when having intercourse with Victoria.

Rule: Sexual intercourse with a minor i.e. an individual aged below 16 years is prohibited by the law. The law also specifies the age of consent for sexual activity, which is used as the premise for determining legal issues relating to sexual intercourse. Sexual intercourse with a girl aged below 16 years is considered as statutory rape even if the act was consensual between the two parties (Vij, 2014). The age of consent for sexual activity for a girl is stipulated as 16 years or more by the law. Darryl sexual intercourse with Victoria can be considered legal or illegal depending on the rule of law or regulations that are relevant to the situation. The rule of law in this situation is that common law makes it illegal to have sexual intercourse even if it's consensual with a girl aged below 16 years. According to common law, sexual intercourse between an adult and a minor past the puberty age is considered as statutory rape. Additionally, statutory rape is a term used to refer to sexual intercourse sexual acts where one of the parties is below the legal age of consent for sexual activity.

Feticide is defined as an act that contributes to the death of an unborn fetus, especially intentional acts. Under the common law, murdering an unborn baby i.e. fetus was not a homicide since criminal homicide laws prohibited killing a person or a human being (Gardner & Anderson, 2016). However, criminal statutes have been amended in the recent past and changed common law by prohibiting the killing of a fetus through deliberate or planned activities. Consequently, many states have adopted feticide laws, which prohibit the killing of an unborn fetus beyond the definitions of homicide in common law. Victoria engaged in rough sexual acts that resulted in miscarriage and death of her unborn child though she did not know of the pregnancy at that time. The rule of law in this hypothetical situation is that common law prohibits intentional involvement in actions or activities to could end up killing an unborn baby or fetus. When applying the rule of law in this case, it's important to consider whether Victoria's actions were equal to intentional killing of the fetus despite being ignorant of the pregnancy.

Analysis: Common law and current legal statutes prohibit statutory rape and feticide by any individual. Dressler (2014), states that statutory rape is sexual activity between an adult and a child (girl) below the age of consent for sexual activity. While the girl may consent to the sexual intercourse, the sexual activity is considered illegal if she is below 16 years. Common law stipulates that the age of consent for sexual activity for a girl is 16 years. Therefore, if an adult engages in a sexual act with a girl below this age, he is guilty of statutory rape since he has committed an offense against a person (minor).

In this case, Darryl is guilty of statutory rape because his actions fall under common provisions of this crime. At the time of this incident, Darryl was 20 years old, which implies that he was an adult whereas Victoria was a minor aged 15 years. While Victoria consented to the sexual intercourse, though it was rough, she had not attained the age of consent for such activity. Darryl's statutory rape offense is also attributable to the fact that he was more than 2 years older than the minor (Victoria). Based on some state laws, an adult is found guilty of committing statutory rape if he commits sexual intercourse with a minor who he is 2 years older than. In essence, the elements of this offense include consensual intercourse, involvement of an adult and minor, and breach of age of consent for sexual activity.

The second issue in this case relates to the death of the unborn child due to miscarriage that can be partly attributed to the rough sexual intercourse. Provisions of common law and state feticide statutes prohibit killing an unborn child or fetus. Based on these provisions, a fetus can be regarded as a murder victim in a feticide crime or court proceeding (Siegel, 2014). In Keeler v. Superior Court, the Supreme Court of California ruled that the "born alive" rule in common law prohibits a conviction for death of an unborn child (Gardner & Anderson, 2016). However, this rule has been amended in recent years to prohibit malicious acts that could cause still birth or death of an unborn child. Many states have passed laws that create a separate class of offense beyond the "born alive" rule in common law. This separate class of crime seeks to protect pregnant women from injuries that would result in still birth or miscarriage. This essentially means that feticide statutes protect pregnant women from assault that could terminate their pregnancies prematurely by causing the death of the unborn child.

While Victoria was unaware of her pregnancy, the very physical and rough nature of her sexual intercourse with Darryl could have affected the unborn child and resulted in the miscarriage. According to case facts, Victoria miscarried and consequently lost her unborn child because of the rough nature of her sexual actions. Some of the most important elements of a feticide offense include intentionality, awareness of the pregnancy, and murder of the unborn child. One of the notable elements of feticide in this situation is murder of the unborn child (fetus), which occurred as a result of the rough sexual intercourse that led to miscarriage. However, the other two important elements of this offense are not evident in the hypothetical situation. First, Darryl and Victoria were unaware of the pregnancy when having sexual intercourse. Secondly, Darryl's actions were seemingly unintentional in harming the unknown fetus since he likes his sex to be very physical or rough in nature. For an act to be considered feticide, intentionality and awareness of the pregnancy are crucial elements that must be present. The absence of these vital elements of the crime implies that Darryl is not guilty of committing a feticide. Darryl's innocence in committing a feticide is also shown that the situation fails to meet the causation requirement, which is an essential element of all crimes that must be proven to determine guilt (Gardner & Anderson, 2016).