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35 J.L. & Educ. 395 (2006)
Equal Protection Dilemma: Why Male Adolescent Students Need Federal Protection from Adult Female Teachers Who Prey on Them

handle is hein.journals/jle35 and id is 405 raw text is: Equal Protection Dilemma: Why Male Adolescent Students Need Federal Protection From Adult Female Teachers Who Prey On Them I. INTRODUCTION Many of us are familiar with an infamous incident that became an issue of major discussion in the entire country. In early 1997, a thirty- five year old sixth grade teacher had sexual intercourse with a thirteen year old male student who attended the same school.' Mary Kay Letourneau pled guilty to two counts of second degree rape of a child and received as her sentence six months in the county jail and three years of specialized sexual deviancy treatment.'2 She was not required to reg- ister as a sex offender and as long as she complied with the terms of the plea agreement of the court, she would not serve time in prison. Also, she was to have no future contact with her victim for the rest of her life. Two weeks after Mrs. Letoumeau was released from serving her jail sentence, she was spotted by police authorities with the victim in a car. This parole violation led the court to place Mrs. Letourneau in prison for eighty-nine months. The total damage inflicted by Mrs. Letourneau-a victimized child who before he reached the age of eighteen became a father of two girls. Also, he endured problems with substance abuse, underperforming in school, and depression.3 The victim in this set of cir- cumstances was abandoned by our judicial system. Since this landmark case, there have been other recent incidents of female teachers performing sexual acts with male students who are not old enough to vote or even drive an automobile. The legal outcomes of these cases, like Letourneau's initial plea agreement, falter in terms of the male victim's right to equal protection under the Constitution. The Fourteenth Amendment says that, 1. State v. Letourneau, 997 P. 2d 436, 439-440 (Wash. App. Div. 1 2000). 2. Id. at 440. 3. Tracy Johnson, Fuallaau's Suit says he wasn't protected from Letourneau, Seattle Post- Intelligencer, (March, 2002) http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/63408_mary22.shtml

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