Inequality from Gener-Neutral Laws: Why Must Male Victims of Statutory Rape Pay Child Support for Children Resulting from Their Victimization
![handle is hein.journals/geolr36 and id is 431 raw text is: INEQUALITY FROM GENDER-NEUTRAL
LAWS: WHY MUST MALE VICTIMS OF
STATUTORY RAPE PAY CHILD SUPPORT
FOR CHILDREN RESULTING FROM THEIR
VICTIMIZATION?
Ruth Jones*
I. INTRODUCTION
In County of San Luis Obispo v. Nathaniel J.,' a thirty-four-year-
old woman had sex with a fifteen-year-old boy and became
pregnant.2 The woman was convicted of unlawful sexual intercourse
with a minor.' After she gave birth to her daughter, she received
Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), and the county
sought reimbursement for the AFDC payments from the father.' In
denying the father's appeal to be relieved from his financial
obligation to repay the state, the court held: [t]he law should not
except Nathaniel J. from this responsibility because he is not an
innocent victim of [the defendant's] criminal acts.' The court found
the father was not an innocent victim based on evidence that the
minor described the sexual intercourse as a mutually agreeable act
and that the thirty-four-year-old and the fifteen-year-old discussed
having a relationship before deciding to have sex with one another.'
In holding Nathaniel J., a statutory rape victim, financially liable
for child support, the California Court of Appeal joined other courts
across the country that have held that a male victim of statutory
rape can be forced to pay child support for a child resulting from his
* Associate Professor, McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific; A.B., 1980
Smith College; J.D., 1983, University of California, Los Angeles Law School. Thanks to
Cynthia Lee, Hether Macfarlane, and John Myers.
' 57 Cal. Rptr. 2d 843 (Ct. App. 1996).
2 Id.
s Id. at 844.
' Id.at 843.
s Id. at 844.
e Id. at 844-45.
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