Should the federal government set a national age for sexual consent for teens?

Yes

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by Elizabeth M. Young

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It is a dirty shame when a sixteen year old can be legally sexually active in one state, but serve jail time as a permanently registered sex offender in another state. There is no way that children that young should be so sexually active, but they are. Criminalizing some underaged behavior that has been natural and instinctive since the dawn of man is stupid enough, but to do so with such disparity in sentencing laws and ages of consent is shockingly backward.

The damage that racially, gender and otherwise biased arrests, prosecutions and sentences are causing needs to be cut off by an overriding Federal set of laws. A person's normal psychological construct for sex and for relationships is forever destroyed when they are violently arrested, hypocritically chastised in a public court, thrown in juvenile detention with violent criminals, and then permanently branded as a dangerous sexual predator...at the age of 16.

Nonwhite males are far more likely to be subjected to harsh sentencing and consequences than White males. Females are far more likely to suffer no consequences at all, even when they are the same age, and equally consenting as their partners. Those disparities alone constitute egregious gender and racial bias. But, finally, in some of the more corrupted states and communities, the rich are able to bypass any laws and to dodge prosecution for underage sex in a host of ways, including fleeing the country.

There are few, if any, Judges and prosecutors who have no knowledge or involvement in underaged sex in their entire lifetimes. Few of them can truthfully swear that no one in their own circle of family and friends has engaged in under aged sex. Few judges and prosecutors could truthfully swear that they never looked the other way or never helped to hide such matters. And those facts sit right on top of their heads while they aggressively harangue and prosecute someone else's child with no remorse or shame at all.

At the same time, a famous film producer who drugs and rapes a 13 year old is allowed to arrogantly run around for over thirty years. A man who was a high level threat as a child molester was set free to molest and kill a child, then go on to drink in bars and enjoy himself. A man who is a top tier hazardous sex offender walks out of jail and never bothers to check in with his parole officer, while he goes missing for days with a woman and her small child.

This could violate the constitution on the basis that the same rights do not apply in all 50 states. It violates federal law when corruption, substandard justice, and straight up racism and sexism drive some of the most infuriating and obvious miscarriages of justice ever seen. Not only should the age of consent be standardized; sentencing laws, and the conditions for a permanent label of "sex offender" should be standardized for underaged children, too.

And if one set of children are going to be penalized for underage sex, all children should be penalized for underaged sex, regardless of race, political connections, financial standing, social standing or gender. That would make a lot of police, prosecutors and judges think twice before singling out some for the worst treatment, while covering up for others who are doing the same things in their own homes and lives.

And, too many states are exercising bizarre forms of the race and gender bias, while imposing perveted religious dogma In issues of consenting underaged sex. Where both parties are underaged, prosecuting, sentencing and labeling as "sex offender" should be equally applied and standardized. After that, the federal government must step in to enforce standards, investigate class, racial and gender bias, imposition of religion, and other wildly out of control abuses of the law.

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