Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: what do you rhink the legal age to consent sex should be? [View all]RiffRandell
(5,909 posts)136. Look at the Marcus Dixon case in GA.
I have a hard time answering this poll because of it.
Convicted of aggravated child molestation which was a law that was supposed to protect children from sexual predators...the prosecutor didn't have to charge him with it; the girl was 3 months away from turning 16, he was 18 and if convicted, 10 years mandatory prison sentence.
Race played a huge factor, the jury believed the sex was consensual and cried when they found out what the conviction meant...they thought he would go home that day.
I was so happy when the GA Supreme Court overturned his conviction.
Dixon was raised in Rome, Ga., by his partly disabled grandmother. With her blessing, a local white Little League coach, Ken Jones, and his wife, Peri, became Marcus' legal guardians when he was 11, and he became part of their family, which includes a teenage son and daughter. Dixon had an almost 4.0 grade point average and a full scholarship to Vanderbilt University.
But in February 2003 Marcus had sex with a girl who was almost 16. According to reports, she told him that if her father found out he would kill them both, because her father was racist. Two days later, she accused him of rape.
In court, however, the principal charge of rape didn't stand up. Wright Edelman wrote, "In May, a jury of nine whites and three blacks took just 20 minutes to acquit Dixon of rape. There was no forced sex, they concluded." The jury was then obliged to consider a lesser charge of "aggravated child molestation." Aggravated child molestation is a charge for adults who prey on children, not usually for teens who have consensual sex.
"This statute had never before been used to prosecute consensual sex between teens with less than a three-year age difference," Edelman wrote, adding that "a majority of states have passed 'Romeo and Juliet' statutes - which deal with teen sex when both partners are close in age - for exactly these types of cases."
Link: http://www.afn.org/~iguana/archives/2004_03/20040304.html
More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Dixon
Edit history
Please sign in to view edit histories.
143 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
RecommendedHighlight replies with 5 or more recommendations
I was thinking 18 and everything under 18 is governed by the age difference. 19/17..ok etc
Leme
May 2014
#139
You think there are 'valid reasons' to arrest a 16 & 15 y/o for consensual "stupid teenage sex"?
Warren DeMontague
May 2014
#126
Not having an encylopedic knowledge of every discussion ever had on DU, I couldn't say.
Warren DeMontague
May 2014
#140
It's telling that the discussion isn't usually about the need for more Romeo and Juliet laws...
redqueen
May 2014
#89
Can we get an option for "Why does it always seem to be adult men who ask about this?" nt
redqueen
May 2014
#8
I meant to put it before "always". Regardless, I wonder what prompted this man to ask.
redqueen
May 2014
#28
"You're not allowed to discuss this aspect of the law, otherwise you're a pedophile"
Kurska
May 2014
#120
It's a lot more than "semantics" when your 17 year old kid is charged with a crime
jberryhill
May 2014
#43
You want to throw an 18-year-old in jail for having sex with a 17-year-old?
Comrade Grumpy
May 2014
#39
If we had mandatory "neutering and spaying prior to the onset of puberty"
Louisiana1976
May 2014
#102
Probably something to do with preventing adults from taking advantage of minors. nt
redqueen
May 2014
#54
As far as health is concerned, I read a long time ago that when a 16-year-old gives birth, the
Cal33
May 2014
#49
Be close to your children, talk to them about things. everything, when they are young.
panader0
May 2014
#50
Teenagers have sex with each other, which is not the same as adults having sex with them.
Warren DeMontague
May 2014
#59
The states voted on this: 16% chose 17, 24% chose 18, and 62% chose 16
struggle4progress
May 2014
#98
with someone comparable or someone much older, teacher, person of power differential?
uppityperson
May 2014
#110