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These statistics deny that a great number of older men are taking advantage of young girls and making them pregnant. Eight per cent is hardly an epidemic. If the problem is occurring only 8% of the time, then statutory rape laws should be enforced in about 8% of the cases.
The problem is how to sift through all the cases and find the right ones to prosecute, leaving the remaining 92% alone. It "...has proven far more difficult than the politicians ever imagined" (Elton, 1997, p. 13). To expect prosecutors to find the 8% in order to reduce the welfare rolls is impractical and unreasonable. Moreover, enforcement of these laws frequently has unexpected consequences. For example, 19-year-old Kevin Gillson was charged in Wisconsin with sexual assault for getting his 15-year-old girlfriend pregnant. His name was entered in a national registry of sex offenders even though he planned to marry the girl and raise his child (Elton, 1997). In some cases, the courts have found that even a very young girl might be better off married to an older male: "In Orange County, California, social service workers and a juvenile court even recommended a pregnant 13-year-old marry her 20-year-old boyfriend because it provided more stability...
13). The "older men" are not always predators. Worse, the girls these laws are supposed to protect, may avoid prenatal care so as not to get the fathers in trouble.
Enforcing statutory rape laws seems on the surface to be a good, traditional way to deal with a very modern problem. With enforcement of these laws, however, males have been disproportionately punished. What if the girl was 19 and the boy 15? Would that be okay? The law doesn't prohibit her from exploiting a 15-year-old boy. The vendetta against statutory rape doesn't accomplish much of anything except to criminalize young men who might otherwise be good citizens. No single answer exists for the problem of teenage pregnancy. It is a complex social issue that needs to be addressed on many levels. Enforcing sexual assault laws to curb it is not the answer.
References
Elton, C. (1997). Jail baiting. The New Republic, 217, (20 October), 12-13.
Findholt, N. And Robrecht, L.C. (2002). Legal and ethical considerations in research with sexually active adolescents: The requirement to report statutory rape. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 34 (5), 259-265.
Jepsen, C.A. And Jepsen, L.K. (2006). The effects of statutory rape laws on nonmarital teenage childbearing. Contemporary Economic Policy, 24 (1), 35-52.
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