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Alan Dershowitz, who stands accused of having sex with multiple alleged Jeffrey Epstein victims, says “statutory rape is an outdated concept” and there should be “Romeo and Juliet exceptions” to statutory rape law.
The age of consent should be lowered to as young as 14 because “voluntary sex is so common in their age group“, according to Dershowitz who published an op-ed titled “Statutory Rape Is An Outdated Concept” in the late 90s.
Years later, Dershowitz defended the column on Twitter, at an awkward time: Dershowitz was a member of the team that got convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein a plea deal that sent him to prison for 18 months in 2007, a sentence that was described as “the deal of the century” amid claims he should have received a much longer sentence.
Dershowitz suggests the age of consent should be lowered to 15, or even 14. Facing a barrage of criticism — for his handling of the Epstein plea deal, for the allegations against him and now for this column — Dershowitz has remained unapologetic.
It's a very tricky issue, and hard to legislate. I'm fine with getting rid of age of consent provided the people who are doing the sex are in the same age range. 14 has sex with 16 year old? Fine in my book. Not fine when she is 14 and the guy is 40/50 or whatever. How you write that into black and white in the law books is a trickier question.
During my school days, long ago, a girl got pregnant at 12, so even in my day having sex at 14 was not a shocker.
Not sure what metoo has to do with anything. He wrote this years ago. He's accused of statutory rape. He's done what he could to keep this all quiet or minimize his role, but he's running out of options other than lying. No one I know is defending him.
I think the age of consent should be 18 in every state.
I will admit, it is strange age of consent are still fairly high, considering that so many politicians engage in sexual behavior with the underage...why would they not lower the age of consent and in doing so, protect themselves from prosecution too?!
Doncha know. It's only people who are Never Trumpers and Democrats who are pedos. Trump supporters like Dershowitz are innocent of any and everything Epstein related.
Our statutory rape laws are outdated and do need an overhaul.
The absolute liability concept tied to it is no longer applicable and needs to be changed.
The easy marriage remedy it was based on is no longer considered acceptable.
The assumption of just non-marital sex being illegal or immoral no longer applies.
The stakes for conviction are no longer a slap on the wrist.
It needs to be about age and developmental differences of the two parties, not some set-in-stone age. Charging someone with statutory rape the day after they turn 18, for sex with the exact same person they legally had sex with the day before, is ludicrous.
Sometimes the child involved is the aggressor and/or the more experienced partner, and that needs to be taken into account
Not that any of that applies to Epstein. I feel, however, that what does need to be considered is the age of consent at the time the sex took place, not the current age of content.
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it is an iffy thing as it does seem an awful lot of kids are having sex at 14 or 15 these days. just not something most parents like to think about. The reality is sex is everywhere in everyones face and with the internet there is no mystery about it to any kid of any age. Many, many moons ago when i was 18 a friends 14 year old sister tried to seduce me multiple times, frankly she was very cute with the looks i have always liked. She was way more experienced sexually then i was but even at 18 the first thing that flashed thru my head was I would be going to jail. It got real awkward there for a while.
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