should sex between consenting adults ever be illegal?

[haele]

51. Same age range; Male teacher, female students. All of "age of consent"

A Male teacher will most likely be charged with rape - even with the girls at the age of consent, because he's a teacher and it is viewed to be more coercive in this situation than it is if it's a female teacher and male students. Is that fair? No. But there is the element of a authority over the student, especially students of the age where their hormones, cognition and maturity are still developing.
Same as it would be if it were a therapist and a client.

The other issue at the heart of this is how much emotional damage had she done to their future, or do we just consider those young men as immature horn-dogs that a little extra-curricular sex-ed won't hurt a bit - especially when later as adults they are out in public and think that the authoritative boundaries between teacher/student or adviser/client don't mean a damn thing because they feel like having sex? Isn't this why we have laws against predatory sexual behavior with the young or the potentially developmentally challenged?

It's a fine line, and yes, it might be that she's going to jail because the state wants to make sure that at least through High School, they aren't liable to the parents for teachers who can't control their own libido, no matter what age the student is. But if they didn't charge her, the firestorm would be worse. No matter what she or the boys may claim, there can always be made a case that she influenced their participation because of the power she held over them or because of the potential for affecting their future that she could provide. That's what she's being charged with, and that's why the state feels that what she has been involved with is rape.

Personally, I can't say if it is or it isn't; or if the coercion could have made this rape be proven to be involved with only one, all, or none of the students.
But it can be proved that she was a predator who abused her position of authority in a mutual organization to have sex with these High School students. If she had been a manager at the Taco Bell these kids hung out at, no one would have done more than t'ched at the situation and called her a slut. Whether or not real justice is involved in the court's decision, that is why she is going to jail instead of just losing her job as she would have had she done this while teaching at the local Community College.

Haele