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I agree that if the kids in question are members of the same peer group, there should be different considerations. Kids are rash, impulsive, and not at all scholars of the law. If someone had wanted to push it, I was 15, nearly 16, at my first sexual encounter, and my boyfriend was 17. I'd hate to see him pay for the rest of his life for being a horny teenager having consensual sex.
The same crap happened to a kid here in Austin. He was 17, she was 15, and they attended the same high school. 15 y.o.'s mom was a judge, so when she got knocked up, Mom went through the roof and threw the book at the 17 y.o. As a result, the 17 y.o. will have the stigma of being a "sex offender" for the rest of his life, complete with his neighborhood being papered with postcards informing neighbors of the "sex offender" in their 'hood every time he moves... for the rest of his life. No explanation is contained on this card; it's up to the recipient go to look at the website to see what he was convicted of, and you can be sure that the average suburban mom won't do that: she will just freak out and organize the other moms to picket the poor kid's house (this happened).
I wish people would really think about these things before passing judgment. Another friend went through a messy divorce in which his ex accused him of fondling their boys. That was 20 years ago and the boys, now adults, are active in their dad's life, over at the house all the time and will tell you that their dad never did anything wrong to them (but that their mom is nasty and spiteful), but he also gets the postcards and picketing if he moves. Nice, eh?
What ever happened to paying your debt to society? Justice is blind, sometimes more often than we think.
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