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[brianwspencer]

That is disgusting. 100% wrong.

When I was in college I wrote an entire thesis about this issue and about statutory rape laws across the country. Some states have the idea right with the year-differential clauses, but some are still archaically wrong like this one. It was fascinating to look at it nationwide, but it was also saddening because I read lots of accounts that are eerily similar to this one. The laws are well-meaning but they are not written correctly and the punishments do not fit the crime in many cases. It was the most depressing paper I ever had to research, because I found that these cases revolve around race more often than around the laws themselves. Put a white kid in his shoes and the prosecutor would have been singing a totally different tune.