Enforcement of Statutory Rape Laws

Enforcement of Statutory Rape Laws

Teen pregnancy is a concern to taxpayers and people concerned about upholding moral standards. Moreover, girls who give birth as teens suffer economic hardships that last into adulthood (Jepsen & Jepsen, 2006). During the 1990s, as part of welfare reform, the federal government urged states to enforce statutory rape laws in order to curb teen pregnancies and thus reduce welfare costs (Findholt & Robrect, 2002). The question is, is enforcement of these laws an effective way to deal with the problem of teen pregnancy? In this essay, I will argue that enforcement is not the answer. Statutory rape laws cannot be administered fairly and have unintended negative consequences.

Statutory rape has been a crime since the year 1275, when the Statute of Westminster was passed: "The King prohibiteth that none do ravish...any Maiden within age" (Cocca cited in Jepsen & Jepsen, 2006). Ancient Rome also banned sex with children, as did early religious canons. Children below a certain age were not considered capable of making informed decisions about sexual activity. Because of this, they were considered vulnerable and deserving of state protection: "The courts claimed that it was the state's responsibility to protect young women because they were inherently weak or were emotionally and intellectually incapable of consenting to sexual intercourse, or because female chastity was necessary to maintain the moral character of a society" (Findholt & robrecht, 2002, p. 260). Recent enforcement of these laws, however, focuses on the cost to society of teenage mothers on welfare. To encourage enforcement, the federal Attorney General cited a study, which he believed revealed an epidemic of older men preying on school-aged girls. As many as two-thirds of teenage pregnancies were said to be caused by adult men. Lawmakers rushed to prosecute the "predatory men" not only to punish them but to keep them from doing it again (Elton, 1997).

The study was ultimately found to be flawed and/or its findings misinterpreted. The Urban Institute, a respected authority on social change, reported in 1999 that 62% of teen pregnancies (15 to 19-year-old mothers) actually happen to 18 or 19-year-old mothers. Only 27% of 15, 16, or 17-year-old mothers get pregnant with men at least five years older. 23% of the 15 to 17-year-old mothers marry the father that is 5 or more years older. The Urban Institute stated, "Only 8% of teen pregnancies involved unmarried women aged 15 to 17 and men who were at least five years older" (cited in Elton, 1997). 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 than her current lifestyle of skipping school and abusing drugs" (p. 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.