Nowhere in these United States is the age of consent for sexual activity 15 or 14. The youngest age in any state is 16.
Age of consent in 18 is my state.
Where do you live? Saudi Arabia?
Age of consent? Mere pettifogging.
I believe the question is "are we talking about statutory rape?"
From the website Legalmatch.com (emphasis in red mine):
What is Statutory Rape?
Statutory rape occurs when a person over the age of consent engages in sexual intercourse with someone under the statutory age of consent. In most states, the age of consent has been arbitrarily designated by statute. However, this age of consent varies widely from state to state. Statutory rape is a strict liability crime, meaning that the consent of the younger person or mistake about their age is not a defense.
What is The Age of Consent?
Federal law makes it criminal to knowingly engage in a sexual act with another person who is between the age of 12 and 16 if they are at least four years younger than you. Each state takes a different approach as the age of consent has ranged from 10 to 18. Some states, such as California and New York, set an age at which all sexual intercourse is considered statutory rape. For example, a state might set the age of consent at 18. In this hypothetical state, two seventeen year olds who had consensual sex could both theoretically be convicted of statutory rape.
Other states imply a different method which, like the federal statute, takes into account the relative ages of both people. In these states, such as Texas, the age of consent is determined by age differentials between the two persons and limited by a minimum age. For example, a state might set a minimum age of 14, but limit consent to partners who are within 3 years of their age. This would allow a sixteen year old to lawfully have sex with a fourteen year old, but make it criminal for an eighteen year old to have sex with that same fourteen year old.
Examples of different state's statutory ages of consent:
- California - The age of consent in California is 18. It is illegal for anyone to engage in sexual intercourse with a minor (someone under the age of 18), unless they are that person's spouse. California employs a tiered system where the greater the difference in age, the greater the penalty. If the person engaging in sex with a minor is less than 3 years older or younger than the minor, then they are guilty of a misdemeanor. If they are more than 3 years older than the minor then they are guilty of a felony. Those over the age of 21 engaging in sex with those under 16 are subjected to more harsh penalties.
- Florida - The age of consent in Florida is 18. It is illegal for anyone over the age of 24 to have sex with anyone under the age of 18, unless they are married.
- Illinois - The age of consent in Illinois is 17. It is illegal to have sex with someone under the age of 18 if you are more than 5 years older than the minor.
- New York - The age of consent is 17. It is illegal for anyone to have sex with someone under the age of 17.
- Texas -The age of consent is 17. The minimum age is 14 with an age differential of 3 years; thus, those who are at least 14 years of age can legally have sex with those less than 3 years older.
I believe the question is "are we talking about statutory rape?"
From the website Legalmatch.com (emphasis in red mine):
What is Statutory Rape?
Statutory rape occurs when a person over the age of consent engages in sexual intercourse with someone under the statutory age of consent. In most states, the age of consent has been arbitrarily designated by statute. However, this age of consent varies widely from state to state. Statutory rape is a strict liability crime, meaning that the consent of the younger person or mistake about their age is not a defense.
What is The Age of Consent?
Federal law makes it criminal to knowingly engage in a sexual act with another person who is between the age of 12 and 16 if they are at least four years younger than you. Each state takes a different approach as the age of consent has ranged from 10 to 18. Some states, such as California and New York, set an age at which all sexual intercourse is considered statutory rape. For example, a state might set the age of consent at 18. In this hypothetical state, two seventeen year olds who had consensual sex could both theoretically be convicted of statutory rape.
Other states imply a different method which, like the federal statute, takes into account the relative ages of both people. In these states, such as Texas, the age of consent is determined by age differentials between the two persons and limited by a minimum age. For example, a state might set a minimum age of 14, but limit consent to partners who are within 3 years of their age. This would allow a sixteen year old to lawfully have sex with a fourteen year old, but make it criminal for an eighteen year old to have sex with that same fourteen year old.
Examples of different state's statutory ages of consent:
- California - The age of consent in California is 18. It is illegal for anyone to engage in sexual intercourse with a minor (someone under the age of 18), unless they are that person's spouse. California employs a tiered system where the greater the difference in age, the greater the penalty. If the person engaging in sex with a minor is less than 3 years older or younger than the minor, then they are guilty of a misdemeanor. If they are more than 3 years older than the minor then they are guilty of a felony. Those over the age of 21 engaging in sex with those under 16 are subjected to more harsh penalties.
- Florida - The age of consent in Florida is 18. It is illegal for anyone over the age of 24 to have sex with anyone under the age of 18, unless they are married.
- Illinois - The age of consent in Illinois is 17. It is illegal to have sex with someone under the age of 18 if you are more than 5 years older than the minor.
- New York - The age of consent is 17. It is illegal for anyone to have sex with someone under the age of 17.
- Texas -The age of consent is 17. The minimum age is 14 with an age differential of 3 years; thus, those who are at least 14 years of age can legally have sex with those less than 3 years older.
You might want to read Wikipedia, “Age of Consent” for sexual contact, and find out what is a misdemeanor and what is a felony.
Misdemeanor/felony sexual contact, and statute of limitations vary by state. Here’s an example:
What is the statute of limitations on statutory rape? The statute of limitations on statutory rape varies from state to state and depends on whether the crime is prosecuted as a misdemeanor or a felony. A misdemeanor is considered less serious than a felony and in most states it carries a shorter statute of limitations. Whether an incident of statutory rape is prosecuted as a misdemeanor or a felony often depends on the age difference between the two parties. For example, in California the statute of limitations on misdemeanor statutory rape is one year and is charged when the two people involved are less than three years apart in age at the time of the crime, if the two people are more than three years apart at the time of the crime the charge become a felony and the statute of limitations increases to three years. To find out more about the differences between misdemeanor and felony statutory rape, including the statutes of limitations on each, contact your state Attorney Generals Office.
Link:
http://teenadvice.about.com/od/sexuallyactive/a/statutoryrape1.htm
That is ONLY ONE example.
457:4 Marriageable. – No male below the age of 14 years and no female below the age of 13 years shall be capable of contracting a valid marriage that is entered into by one male and one female, and all marriages contracted by such persons shall be null and void. No male below the age of 18 and no female below the age of 18 shall be capable of contracting a valid marriage between persons of the same gender, and all marriages contracted by such persons shall be null and void.
(New Hampshire code)
According to this handy reference page at the Cornell Law School, Massachusetts allows for males who are 14 and females who are 12 to be married with parental consent, Hawaii is 15 with consent as is Missouri, and Mississippi does not have a lower age...provided there is parental consent. Most remaining states are 16.
Please note: this assumes that a marriage would be consummated. For sex outside of marriage, most states have an age of consent of 16.
But there are some weird exceptions. For example, South Carolina. Section 16-3-655 of their annotated code says:
(B) A person is guilty of criminal sexual conduct with a minor in the second degree if:
(1) the actor engages in sexual battery with a victim who is fourteen years of age or less but who is at least eleven years of age; or
(2) the actor engages in sexual battery with a victim who is at least fourteen years of age but who is less than sixteen years of age and the actor is in a position of familial, custodial, or official authority to coerce the victim to submit or is older than the victim. However, a person may not be convicted of a violation of the provisions of this item if he is eighteen years of age or less when he engages in consensual sexual conduct with another person who is at least fourteen years of age.
And, of course, we must remember that the US is not the only country in the world. For example, in much of Europe the age of consent for unmarried sex is 14 (caution: wiki source), provided there is no exploitation or deception involved.
But I digress. There is no excuse for an ordained minister of any religion to be exploiting anybody. Period. It is a far more heinous thing when dealing with a person with whom that minister is an authority figure...and the lack of experience for a teenager or tweenager just makes that fact worse.
But there is a fundamentally different issue going on when the crime is with a pubescent or post-pubescent adolescent than when it is with a pre-pubescent child. Not a change in severity of the issue: but in the cause of it.
And understanding the cause and type of problem is really important when trying to screen out people. In other words, how do you fix it.
And it still comes down to the same thing: many of the bishops and many of the seminaries for years bought into the modern psychological hoax that there was not an issue of ordaining a homosexual who made a promise of celibacy. If it wasn't for that, you would still have a problem, but it would have paled in comparison to the problem that the US Church was forced to deal with back in 2002 and that the European Church is dealing with now.