About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

40 Child. Legal Rts. J. 1 (2020)
Protecting Youth from Themselves: The Overcriminalization of Consensual Sexual Behavior between Adolescents

handle is hein.journals/clrj40 and id is 6 raw text is: Protecting Youth From Themselves: The Overcriminalization of Consensual Sexual Behavior Between Adolescents Jean Strout, Divya Vasudevan, and Riya Saha Shah' INTRODUCTION Sexual exploration is a key component of adolescence. This is obvious to anyone who has been a teenager, and it is illustrated every day in movies and music portraying the teenage experience. Our shared social knowledge is also supported by research: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently found that 42 percent of female teens and 44 percent of male teens reported being sexually active.2 Even greater numbers of teenagers engage in sexual activity other than intercourse.3 It is also clear that much of the sexual contact between adolescents is the result of choice, not coercion.4 Young people are certainly vulnerable to sexual abuse, particularly at the hands of adults. Yet, sexual exploration is also a normative and vital part of adolescent development.5 The cultural and psychological reality of teen sexuality is in stark contrast with the criminalization of sexual contact between minors. Most states have laws that expose children to criminal liability for participating in consensual sexual activities with a partner of the same age or similar age. While the legal definition and colloquial understanding of consent is constantly in flux, there is no dispute that consent can exist between two adults. However, by statutory prescription, many minors are denied this type of agency and nuance due solely to their ages.6 Children can face prison sentences, sex offender registration, and other serious consequences for ' Jean Strout earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School. She has worked as an advocate for system-involved children at Juvenile Law Center, Support Center for Child Advocates, and National Center for Youth Law. Divya Vasudevan practices union-side labor law in Rhode Island. She earned her J.D. from Temple University's Beasley School of Law and was a Law & Policy Clerk at the Juvenile Law Center during her time as a law student in Philadelphia. Riya Saha Shah is the Managing Director of Juvenile Law Center. She earned her J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law where she was a Civitas ChildLaw Fellow and Editor-in-Chief of THE CHILDREN'S LEGAL RIGHTS JOURNAL. 2 JOYCE C. ABMA & GLADYS MARTIN, SEXUAL ACTIVITY AND CONTRACEPTIVE USE AMONG TEENAGERS IN THE UNITED STATES, 2011-2015 at 1 (2017), https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsrl04.pdf. 3 CHILD TRENDS DATA BANK, ORAL SEX BEHAVIORS AMONG TEENS 2 (2015), https://www.childtrends.org/wp- content/uploads/2013/12/95_Oral_Sex_1.pdf. (Greater percentage of teens who do not engage in intercourse engage in oral sex.) a Meredith Cohen, No Child Left Behind Bars: The Need to Combat Cruel and Unusual Punishment of State Statutory Rape Laws, 16 J. L. & POL'Y 717, 729 (2008); Lewis Bossing, Now Sixteen Could Get You Life: Statutory Rape, Meaningful Consent, and the Implications for Federal Sentence Enhancement, 73 N.Y.U. L. REV. 1205, 1228-29 (1998). 5J. DENNIS FORTENBERRY, HANDBOOK OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENT SEXUALITY: DEVELOPMENTAL AND FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY 171-92 (2013). 6 We recognize that there can be grave differences in interpretation of consent and this article does not delve into the possible conflict between parties when consent is assessed. Rather, for the purposes of this article, consensual sexual contact between minors is legal consent that would be found if the participants were both adults.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most