originally posted 8/25/2010
Statutory rape is not always rape. In fact, many times this is not the case. Coercion or intimidation are most certainly not always present in a case where a victim is under the age of consent. Many times this is the case … just as many times it is not. My girlfriend is 15 and I am 19. Her father didn’t approve of our relationship and found out we had sex and reported me. (At the time, I was 18 and she was 14 – we are exactly four years, three days apart. It happened about two months before our respective birthdays). She took my virginity! I don’t go around and solicit young minors for sex; I just met her, fell in love with her, and it happened. I would never make her feel bad, or convince her to do something that she doesn’t want to. We chose to do it together.
I’m in love with her!!!! And now I’ve lost the love of my life…the girl of my dreams, and I’m being thrown into the same pot as child molesters and rapists. How is that right? Statutory rape laws should exist to protect young girls from older men, but in these times it’s becoming a god damn witch hunt fueled by the idea that every case is the same…it’s not. There are predatory relationships that should be prosecuted … just as there are loving relationships that should not be. There should be defenses available to honest and good people who are in circumstances like mine.
Mandatory sentencing is also a problem. I live in a state where my ‘crime’ carries a mandatory sentence of nine months’ imprisonment. The judge can’t even remove that! It takes the case out of the hands of the judge and does not allow judicial discretion so that all of the facts are taken into consideration. Young people fall in love. These laws are being twisted into a hammer and used to beat down on young ‘offenders’ by moral conservatives and angry, vengeful parents. The law enables them, and it’s sickening. Society needs to wake up, realize whats happening here, and do something about it. If I go to prison (and probably even if I don’t), I plan on writing many letters to people in positions of authority. I hope someone listens.