Why Are So Few Statutory Rapes Prosecuted?

[Knight Templar]

It was suggested elsewhere that I move this thread to another forum. Or at least that is what I thought they meant.

This site says that only 42% of statutory rapes incidents reported result in an arrest.

[COLOR=#dbdbdb]https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/208803.pdf[/COLOR]

Why are so few arrests made and obviously so few prosecuted? And I assume that even more statutory rapes are committed yet never reported.

Given that the overwhelming majority of the rapists are male and the average age difference between rapist and victim is 6 years, I would think that parents would be all over this trying to put pressure on police and prosecutors.

Regardless of your views on sex, I think everyone will agree that a 15 year old girl has no business having sex with a 21 year old man.

[teacake]

By another forum I think they meant on the other side of the internet.

[Tora Ziyal]

Knight Templar wrote:

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And I assume that even more statutory rapes are committed yet never reported.

You assume correctly, about all rapes, not just statutory.

Regardless of your views on sex, I think everyone will agree that a 15 year old girl has no business having sex with a 21 year old man.

Wow. Let's rephrase that so the responsibility is placed in the right direction: "a 21 year old man has no business having sex with a 15 year old girl." Or, "a 21 year old woman has no business having sex with a 15 year old boy."

Saying that the 15 year old -- who legally has no ability to consent -- has no business having sex with an older adult is blaming the victim. Unfortunately, people do that all the time, which is a major part of why many victims are unwilling to report being raped. They know that they stand a good chance of being treated as the criminal.

(I don't know the history of this conversation, so hopefully I won't regret having jumped in here.)

[Scout101]

I'd expect that a good number of the non-reported cases involve family consent. Family COULD press charges, but if they like the guy, or the relationship is going well, and there's not THAT big an age difference, why cause legal trouble?

Really, I gotta see more of an age difference before it's a problem in my head. 6 years, i dunno, feels like it needs to be more before it's RAPE, and guy's a sex offender, etc. Should they really be together? Probably not, but is it drastic enough a problem to ruin his life over? I say no.

Differs by state, but some of the rules go way too far, too. Some are set up so that even if you're both in the same high school, and a senior is dating a freshman, could be statutory rape.

It's a tough one to get good reporting on, because in most cases, neither party really feels like they are doing anything wrong. No one was physically raped, it's a legal rule being broken, not physical violence. Up to the family to report, i guess, and like I said, touchy ground. Short of that, or reporting it as revenge over a bad breakup...

ETA: Don't wanna turn this into me supporting rape, or some sort of odd old guy/toddler fetish, just feel like there should be a bigger age gap before it's a legal issue. 15 year old and a 21 year old is wrong, but 70 year old banging a 21 year old is good for him? I know, consent, legal adult, etc, but funny how the first guy is a criminal and the 2nd a legend...

[{ Emilia }]

Scout101 wrote:

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ETA: Don't wanna turn this into me supporting rape, or some sort of odd old guy/toddler fetish, just feel like there should be a bigger age gap before it's a legal issue. 15 year old and a 21 year old is wrong, but 70 year old banging a 21 year old is good for him? I know, consent, legal adult, etc, but funny how the first guy is a criminal and the 2nd a legend...

There's the whole adult vs. minor thing, you know?

Just sayin'.

[horatio83]

I'd worry more about real rape and the extremely low report ratios of it than all these teenage girls who are in a relationship with an older guy. It's the job of the parents to educate their children and make sure that the older guy their daughter is together with doesn't abuse her.

[teacake]

No it's the job of the parents to stand on their porch with a shotgun and chase that pervert off.

[Tora Ziyal]

Yes, it is the job of parents to protect their daughters. But it's also the job of parents to make sure their sons grow into the kind of men who don't abuse their girlfriends/wives.

[Scout101]

{ Emilia } wrote:

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There's the whole adult vs. minor thing, you know?

Just sayin'.

Right, which is why I said I got it the first time. Guess I'm just not considering a big difference between the 15 year old and the 21 year old. Creepy at best, maybe, but not jail time and sex offender status. If he was 30, sure. Or maybe even 25? Guess there's a line somewhere, but at 6 years, feels like they're pretty damned close, and the age difference is close enough that it could be an older sibling's friend or whatever. Depending on circumstances, she could likely be more mature than he is

Again, not saying it's right, just that I think it should be a bigger spread before the police take over. I mean, either she's old enough to make decisions about sex, or she isn't. At 15, she's not capable of doing so, but on her 16th birthday, she gets a brain upgrade and is good to go? Hell, there are 30-year olds that aren't ready to have sex, so clearly it's a fuzzy line and people mature at their own pace. The harsh age deliniator implies there's a firm line between being Daddy's Little Girl and being a sexual being in her own right. I think it's open to a little more interpretation than that, but it's difficult to spell out exactly an age, mindset, whatever. Like I said, tough subject to pin down.

[Gov Kodos]

Scout101 wrote:

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Right, which is why I said I got it the first time. Guess I'm just not considering a big difference between the 15 year old and the 21 year old. Creepy at best, maybe, but not jail time and sex offender status. If he was 30, sure. Or maybe even 25? Guess there's a line somewhere, but at 6 years, feels like they're pretty damned close, and the age difference is close enough that it could be an older sibling's friend or whatever. Depending on circumstances, she could likely be more mature than he is

Again, not saying it's right, just that I think it should be a bigger spread before the police take over. I mean, either she's old enough to make decisions about sex, or she isn't. At 15, she's not capable of doing so, but on her 16th birthday, she gets a brain upgrade and is good to go? Hell, there are 30-year olds that aren't ready to have sex, so clearly it's a fuzzy line and people mature at their own pace.

Go cougars

[Scout101]

Back to the actual question, though, and it's really just that the parents aren't reporting it in many cases. If they think she's ready, and he's not a 40-year old creeper, they don't do anything. Probably figuring that doing so will just push her towards him even more, rather than breaking them up.

And then you'd probably have a hard time selling a jury on rape when they see two kids that are just a few years apart, and seem like they love each other, it's consentual, etc. Legally, it's technically wrong, but may be difficult to succeed in court.

[horatio83]

teacake wrote:

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No it's the job of the parents to stand on their porch with a shotgun and chase that pervert off.

I don't know how things have been when you were young but while I was a teenager it was not uncommon that a 15 year old girl had an adult boyfriend. I doubt that many of them were perverts, I doubt that many parents were negligent and I doubt that these girls would have been better off if they had been forced to merely date immature 17 year old boys.
I am not arguing against statutory rape, it is absolutely necessary to prevent abuse. But it is also strange that what has never been a big issue in previous decades (I have been a teenager in the nineties), teenagers dating somebody slightly older, has suddenly become one.

[Gaith]

Also, who wants to invite that kind of publicity onto their own/their kids' lives?

[Knight Templar]

If a 15 or 16 year old normally can't even enter into a contract, then how can they possibly be considered responsible enough to choose to have sexual relations?

[Scout101]

because having sex /= buying a house? As we've proven for millenia, when it comes to sex, any idiot can do it, and most do...

It's because there's an element of power/control/abuse in an adult/teenager dynamic. Really more a matter of boiling down exactly WHEN the dynamic is too far out of whack and the younger party has to be protected.