[Cool Teen Sites]
Added March 2002:
You might want to look into your information about wisconsin, the law was recently changed
to 16 being the legal age of sexual consent, also not only was that law changed but the
term "rape" is no longer used in the state of wisconsin, the new term is sexual
assult or sexual assault of a minor.
EDITOR ADDED:
We don't agree with your information. 948.09 was not changed and criminalizes
sexual intercourse with a "child". 948.01 defines child as a person under
18. We stand by our chart entry of 18 being the legal age of consent. 03/2002
948.02(2)
(2) Second degree sexual assault. Whoever has sexual contact or sexual intercourse with a person who has not attained the age of 16 years is guilty of a Class BC felony.
948.09
948.09 Sexual intercourse with a child age 16 or older. Whoever has sexual intercourse with a child who is not the defendant's spouse and who has attained the age of 16 years is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.
948.01(1)
(1) "Child" means a person who has not attained the age of 18 years, except that for purposes of prosecuting a person who is alleged to have violated a state or federal criminal law, "child" does not include a person who has attained the age of 17 years.
Section 948.09
Sexual Intercourse with a child age 16 or older
Whoever has sexual intercourse with a child who is not the defendant's spouse and who has attained the age of 16 years is guilty of a Class A misdeameanor.
New Source for Wisconsin Statutes: (http://www.legis.state.wi.us/rsb/Statutes.html) 04-2001
Statutory rape raises questions
From: (http://www.beloitdailynews.com/100/6wis24.htm)
Permanent archive to prevent news article loss
MADISON, Wis. (AP) _ A 14-year-old mother who began having sex with a 16-year-old
boyfriend when she was 12 calls it
unfair to charge him with statutory rape.
As part of a campaign by Dane County authorities against statutory rape, the teen-ager was
sentenced to three months in
custody and was ordered to have no contact with the girl. She says authorities
should take into consideration what she calls the maturity level of the individuals.
District Attorney Diane Nicks received a $93,000 state grant last February to
prosecute cases of statutory rape. When the grant expires in June, Nicks said she
hopes to have a model policy in place that could change the way statutory rape is
prosecuted in Wisconsin.
She said she is concerned about relationships in which one person is significantly older
than a minor. Nicks questions whether consent is freely given in such cases
because of the possibility an older person can manipulate an adolescent. She
generally does not prosecute cases where both people are at least 13 and the difference in
their ages is three years or less, she said.
With the state funding, Nicks has hired two people to work exclusively on such cases,
educate the public on the law and
develop recommendations for prosecuting cases. Some advocates for young women say
they are wary of a new statutory rape policy. Deirdre Green, a youth specialist for the
Rape Crisis Center, said some of the sexually active girls she counsels feel doubly
violated when their lovers are prosecuted.
``Girls see this sexualized society where you're supposed to talk sexy but not have sex,''
Green said. ``If you move the age up
to a 24-year-old and an 18-year-old, society wouldn't have a problem with it.''
The cases are difficult because young people involved in statutory rape cases typically do
not perceive themselves as victims,
prosecutors and victims' advocates say. ``Everybody hates these cases,'' said Sandra
Nowack, an assistant state attorney general who is heading the prosecution program. ``How
do you deal with a teen-ager who doesn't see herself as a victim?''
Teen-age sex can confuse young people's emotional development, causing them to engage in
risky behavior, psychologists say.
That can lead to teen-age pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases. There has been
a steady increase in the prosecutions of statutory rape across Wisconsin, Nicks said. But
many still consider it a victimless crime, she said.
Steven C. Christopher, 22, was sentenced to more than two years in prison after being
convicted of statutory rape for having
sex with two girls, ages 13 and 15. Both said they willingly participated.
Christopher's mother and grandmother wrote letters to Dane County Circuit Judge William
Foust, complaining that the girls should share some of the blame because they aggressively
pursued him.
``With girls being as promiscuous as they are today, the parents are going to have to
start taking some of the blame,'' said Carol Parks, Christopher's grandmother. ``If
you rape them, that's a different story. If she comes to you, both people should be held
accountable.''
07-2000 New Source: U.S. statutory rape laws is published on the Web by the National
Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information. The booklet, which
requires Adobe Acrobat to read, is located at:
http://www.calib.com/nccanch/pubs/99statutes/35-SexualOffenses.PDF