Once again a high profile sex crime has hit the media in a big way. This time it is Torrington, but it could be any city or town in Connecticut. In fact, it could be anywhere in the U.S. Boys, 18 and 17 years old, have been accused of having consensual sex with 13-year-old-girls: this has been forever labeled as statutory rape.
Statutory rape evolved as a concept to protect young people from themselves. If one is between the ages of 13 and 15, that person cannot consent to sexual activities with a person more than three years older. The theory here is that these young people are not intellectually or morally developed to make such decisions, so the government, acting as parens patriae, will make them for you. Under Connecticut General Statutes Section53a-71, sexual assault in the second degree is a class B felony (for a victim under 16 years of age) carrying a maximum prison sentence of 20 years with a nine-month mandatory minimum sentence to serve.
