Class
Article
College
College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Faculty Mentor
Stephen VanGeem
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Abstract
American culture is concerned about sex among teenagers, especially with the continuing rise in use of social media and fears of a growing "hookup culture". Sex outside of marriage appears to be relatively common, and there is a lot of concern about teenage pregnancies, teenagers in "relationships" with adults, and minors engaging in sex in general given how emotionally immature adolescents can be. Because of these concerns about sexual behavior among teenagers, every state in the United States of America has implemented a law about age of consent, and some have gone further to define what acceptable age differences between partners are. Romeo and Juliet laws allow legal sexual intercourse among minors based upon these age criteria, and can vary significantly from state to state. This poster will examine how these laws differ across the country, what punishments are associated with each of these laws by state, and then highlight whether there are any inconsistencies from law-to-law and case-to-case in order to analyze whether these punishments are appropriate to the crimes, especially in the case of statutory rape.
Start Date
4-9-2020 1:00 PM
End Date
4-9-2020 2:00 PM
“They Aren’t Even Old Enough to Get a Driver’s License”: Variations Among Age of Consent and Romeo and Juliet Laws
American culture is concerned about sex among teenagers, especially with the continuing rise in use of social media and fears of a growing "hookup culture". Sex outside of marriage appears to be relatively common, and there is a lot of concern about teenage pregnancies, teenagers in "relationships" with adults, and minors engaging in sex in general given how emotionally immature adolescents can be. Because of these concerns about sexual behavior among teenagers, every state in the United States of America has implemented a law about age of consent, and some have gone further to define what acceptable age differences between partners are. Romeo and Juliet laws allow legal sexual intercourse among minors based upon these age criteria, and can vary significantly from state to state. This poster will examine how these laws differ across the country, what punishments are associated with each of these laws by state, and then highlight whether there are any inconsistencies from law-to-law and case-to-case in order to analyze whether these punishments are appropriate to the crimes, especially in the case of statutory rape.