nonono, i wasnt talking to you, rkzenrage.

Sorry... misunderstood.

Another night the lights went out in Georgia.

Freaking insane.

If you're talking to me I have seen a lot of people that are more extreme than that and were serious. Sorry if I missed it but sometimes its tough since sarcasm usually includes a tone of voice or expressions that are missing in forums.

Wow. De ja vu.

I was 17 my girlfriend was 16 and the cops busted us for sex in the public beach parking lot at 11 PM. They asked her mom if she wanted to press charges, thankfully, my life has not been shaken because her mom did not. Consensual sex laws are always going to be subject of debate. I'm surprised that the 15 year old girl didn't try to help him out declaring that it was consensual. I know I owe my girlfriend everything for her verbal support of our situation.

I am utterly outraged - That is absolutely amazing to me. Each situation like this has to be looked at individually. I admit, I don't know all the facts, but it seems to me this kids who got a BJ from his girlfriend is being treated the same as someone who grabs a girl off the streets and rapes her? Consent has to be looked at as a major component when determining punishment, if any. It seems like this is a great example of a law designed to protect our children that is harming them instead.

The law has to draw a line which determines at what age someone is capable of consent. That's where the notion of statutory rape comes from. If the only element is consent, without regard to competency, then all sex with children is legal, even if the 'consent' provided is the result of grooming or coercion on the part of the pedophile.

That's a well-greased slipperly slope you're riding.

Drawing a line seems to me to be exactly why the age is set at 18. The gov can't assess the "competency" or intellectual reasoning ability of every teenager who has sexual relations. If one of the participants is over 18 and the other isn't: statutory rape. If they're both teenagers, no rape at all. Drawing a line may not always work the way it should, but the line shouldn't be bent around at every mad parent's whim.

The age of consent is not 18 in every state, in some it is as low as 14.

And a teenager CAN certainly rape a teenager. Assuming consent is worse than assuming lack thereof.

Sorry wolf, I NEVER meant to say that age was an invalid part of the equation, I just thought that consent should also be involved. I like the way Shawnee put it best.

You can't put a certain age for legal sex because girls mature at different ages. If a girl is fully matured at 14 why can't she have a responsible mature relationship with an 18 year old? But then there is another 14 year old that will be taken advantage of because of her immaturity mentally to be able to handle a relationship.

OK, I just looked up Georgia and the age of consent IS 16. So, I stick by my analysis but my assumption that neither of them were older that the age of consent was wrong.

And, just for the record, I wasn't talking about rape. Rape and teenagers having sex are two different things. Statutory rape is not the same thing as a teenager forcing another to have sex. I wasn't assuming consent myself, I was assuming the article projected it was consensual, otherwise there would be no question that the guy should be punished.

But what defines 'fully matured'? I know people who are in their 30's and 40's who wouldn't fit a definition of 'fully matured' when compared to some people younger than them.

Both mentally and physcially mature. They usually go hand in hand but not always.

Mental maturity is completely subjective and immeasurable. No way to deal with that, hence the problem.