Teens have right to have sex, lawyer argues (Huh?!?)

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ^ | 8.21.03 | JAMAAL ABDUL-ALIM

[mhking]

When an Oak Creek woman found her 14-year-old daughter nude in the woman's bed with a 14-year-old boy, the teens didn't strike her as being overly concerned.

"They both freely admitted that their intention was to 'have sex,' " records quote the woman as saying. They "were confrontational and remorseless."

The teens even "challenged" the woman to call police. So she did.

Now, the couple's would-be sexual encounter in October has both of them facing serious criminal charges.

Their case takes a course through the intersection of morals and law, a bustling crossroads at a time when sexuality has become a greater focus of youth culture. While authorities say their prosecution is meant to help, not punish, the teens, a lawyer for one of them contends 14-year-olds have a right to privacy that allows them to consent to sex with each other, and has challenged the constitutionality of the law.

The boy is being held in secure detention on a charge of attempted second-degree sexual assault, a felony that carries a possible juvenile prison term.

The girl pleaded guilty to fourth degree sexual assault, a misdemeanor, but is charged with violating her probation; a warrant has been issued for her arrest.

Neither is being named because of their ages.

Don Linke, the boy's attorney, argues that children's privacy rights include the right to make "important decisions."

"One of those types of decisions is whether to engage in sexual relations," says Linke, who will argue his position today at Milwaukee County Children's Court. If Circuit Judge Tom Donegan rules against Linke, the case could go to trial.

But prosecutors say children have no right to have sex.

"Sex between kids is not legal," said Assistant District Attorney Lori Kornblum, who is prosecuting the case.

According to the law, "Whoever has sexual contact or sexual intercourse with a person who has not attained the age of 16 is guilty of a Class C felony." There is no mention of consent.

Linke suggests the statute is intended to prevent older teenagers or adults from abusing or exploiting younger, more vulnerable children, not to prohibit consensual sex among teenagers.

Kornblum said that while many instances of consensual sex among minors get handled informally, she felt compelled to bring charges in this case.

"The reason I charged this case was because of their attitude," Kornblum says. "I believe they had to be brought before an authority."

Not to punish the children, she said, but to help them through various court-ordered services.

Linke says there are other ways for the court to intervene without the children having to be found delinquent, such as filing a petition for protection or services.

Beyond the teenagers' sexual activity lurk a host of other problems.

Court records reveal that both come from troubled backgrounds and struggle with the same issues, such as attention deficit disorder and parental abandonment.

Prosecutors did try to cut the teens some slack.

The boy - originally charged in October - secured a "deferred prosecution agreement" in March. All he had to do was stay out of trouble until Aug. 6 and the charge would have been dismissed. But not long after the agreement, his father reported that the boy "refuses to follow rules." That prompted prosecutors to reissue the charge.

The girl - who was not given deferred prosecution because all parties involved agreed she needed services - was placed on probation, and ordered into Wraparound, a monitoring and treatment program designed to help emotionally disturbed youths at home instead of at costlier institutions.

But after she repeatedly spent the night out without permission, a warrant was issued for her arrest Aug. 5.

It could not be determined Wednesday if she had yet been arrested.

[Steve Eisenberg]

I'm sure there is more going on than is reported.

Yep, and when the girl is staying out all night at 14, it isn't too hard to guess of some of it.

Re patton's grandparents married at 14 and 15, if grandma had been out all night with who knows who in the days before the marriage, would it still have gone forward? And doesn't the fact that they did get married tell you something was a lot different than in this case?

[Treebeard]

Damn right. If I had talked to either parent like that, the only thing that would have beaten me to the hospital would have been the lights of the ambulance.

Anyone remember in JR/SR high school when hickeys were scandalous?

[Capriole]

Lorianne, obviously the boy's parents did a lousy job of raising him, too. He was defiant instead of being suitably ashamed and frightened. But it was the girl who brought him to her mother's bed rather than her own. This is a startling act of contempt and defiance, like spitting in the soup or using her mother's toothbrush to scrub the toilet. There's a power struggle going on here, and Mom has lost. Mom lost years ago.

[YankeeinOkieville]

So following that logic should adult females who are more financially secure and emotionally stable engage in sex with minor males as well? After all, a male reaches the peak of his sexual desirings at about the age of 18-20 whilst for a female it happens in her early thirties. Makes sense to me, after all whats good for the goose...

Teen-aged girls may be more mentally mature than their male peers, but not by that much, a couple of years at most. The guys catch up by about age 80 or so. It is as it should be that most teens are physically drawn to each other and not to people twice or three times their age.

[Teacher317]

Now where's that thread about the lawyers arguing that the ethics rules should be changed so that they can have sex with their clients?

[Hildy]

Turn on MTV any time of day and you'll see underage kids simulating and even actually having sex. How on Earth are kids supposed to know what's appropriate and not. They're not taught at home, they're not taught at school and the media glamorizes it. And then, when you do it, you're arrested. We have totally failed as a society.

[weegee]

Re patton's grandparents married at 14 and 15, if grandma had been out all night with who knows who in the days before the marriage, would it still have gone forward?/I>

If it got out that they were seeing each other undressed, he might have been forced to make an honest woman out of her. There are different names for this cultural tradition. Shotgun wedding. Code of the hills. I'm sure that there are more.

[JonathansMommie]

I Am Speechless !!

[ninenot]

Criminally prosecuting two children for sex (which is not by force) is ridiculous.

Of course in Wisconsin the hearings will be held in Children's Court, closed, and any adjudication and sentences will be expunged from their records when they reach 18 years of age.

Are you trying to say that children caught in flagrante delicto are NOT deserving of prosecution, if a complaint is filed?

[ninenot]

Ten Rules For Dating My Daughter



Rule One:
If you pull into my driveway and honk you'd better be delivering a package, because you're sure not picking anything up.

Rule Two:
You do not touch my daughter in front of me. You may glance at her, so long as you do not peer at anything below her neck. If you cannot keep your eyes or hands off of my daughter's body, I will remove them.

Rule Three:
I am aware that it is considered fashionable for boys of your age to wear their trousers so loosely that they appear to be falling off their hips. Please don't take this as an insult, but you and all of your friends are complete idiots. Still, I want to be fair and open minded about this issue, so I propose his compromise: You may come to the door with your underwear showing and your pants ten sizes too big, and I will not object. However, in order to ensure that your clothes do not, in fact, come off during the course of your date with my daughter, I will take my electric nail gun and fasten your trousers securely in place to your waist.

Rule Four:
I'm sure you've been told that in today's world, sex without utilizing a "barrier method" of some kind can kill you. Let me elaborate, when it comes to sex, I am the barrier, and I will kill you.

Rule Five:
It is usually understood that in order for us to get to know each other, we should talk about sports, politics, and other issues of the day. Please do not do this. The only information I require from you is an indication of when you expect to have my daughter safely back at my house, and the only word I need from you on this subject is "early."

Rule Six:
I have no doubt you are a popular fellow, with many opportunities to date other girls. This is fine with me as long as it is okay with my daughter. Otherwise, once you have gone out with my little girl, you will continue to date no one but her until she is finished with you. If you make her cry, I will make you cry.

Rule Seven:
As you stand in my front hallway, waiting for my daughter to appear, and more than an hour goes by, do not sigh and fidget. If you want to be on time for the movie, you should not be dating. My daughter is putting on her makeup, a process that can take longer than painting the Golden Gate Bridge. Instead of just standing there, why don't you do something useful, like changing the oil in my car?

Rule Eight:
The following places are not appropriate for a date with my daughter: Places where there are beds, sofas, or anything softer than a wooden stool. Places where there are no parents, policemen, or nuns within eyesight. Places where there is darkness. Places where there is dancing, holding hands, or happiness. Places where the ambient temperature is warm enough to induce my daughter to wear shorts, tank tops, midriff T-shirts, or anything other than overalls, a sweater, and a goose down parka - zipped up to her throat. Movies with a strong romantic or sexual theme are to be avoided; movies which features chain saws are okay. Hockey games are okay. Old folks homes are better.

Rule Nine:
Do not lie to me. I may appear to be a potbellied, balding, middle-aged, dimwitted has-been. But on issues relating to my daughter, I am the all-knowing, merciless god of your universe. If I ask you where you are going and with whom, you have one chance to tell me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I have a shotgun, a shovel, and five acres behind the house. Do not trifle with me.

Rule Ten:
Be afraid. Be very afraid. It takes very little for me to mistake the sound of your car in the driveway for a chopper coming in over a rice paddy near Hanoi. When my Agent Orange starts acting up, the voices in my head frequently tell me to clean the guns as I wait for you to bring my daughter home. As soon as you pull into the driveway you should exit your car with both hands in plain sight. Speak the perimeter password, announce in a clear voice that you have brought my daughter home safely and early, then return to your car - there is no need for you to come inside. The camouflaged face at the window is mine.

[ninenot]

My grandparents married at 15 and 14

And most likely died before reaching the age of 65.

But this article is not about "kids getting MARRIED," and that makes it a slightly different issue, eh?

[ninenot]

and no one is getting hurt

If you think that little girl is NOT getting hurt, you're nuts.

[ColdSteelTalon]

They should both be punished equally under the law (Both be charged with a felony).

[Seamus Mc Gillicuddy]

" I would not have lived. Dad would have killed us both. Just another example of how we are all sliding down the slippery slope and not doing a damn thing about it."

What the hell ever happened to:"If we're going to have sex, let's do it somewhere where our parents don't catch us? Now I don't condone their behavior, but I realize this does go on, it's inevitable. However, the absolute brazeness of the boy would surely make me burst into a fit of rage, I'd probably break his nose. As I stated previously I don't care if they took me to jail, there ain't a jury around that would convict me.

[ninenot]

charged and convicted

Not convicted yet.

Today's JSOnline tells us that the judge denied the motions, meaning there will be a trial.

The worst these kids will get will be juvenile hall until 18 years old. More likely a few months in Juvie and then CLOSE supervision by a probation type.

[ninenot]

We can agree that Gummint supervision of these children is the VERY LAST resort...but obviously the Mom is having some difficulties....

[ninenot]

Call me silly, but I kinda associate assault with force

Under the laws of most States, you can be charged w/sex assault for patting the butt of someone next to you.

[Mr. Mojo]

the couple's would-be sexual encounter in October has both of them facing serious criminal charges.

Geez, if these laws were actually enforced and everybody got caught, well over 3/4 of my old high school class would've faced "serious crimminal charges."

[ninenot]

So how can two children be legally liable

Because that's the way the law in Wisconsin is written.

Obviously, the law is written to DISCOURAGE this sort of activity, which is good.

[ninenot]

Linke better get ready for a truck-load full of judicial smackdown. He's a hotdogging idiot

Maybe, maybe not.

SCOTUS invented "privacy" in Griswold (1964) and made it absolute in Roe (1973.)

There is NO right to privacy in the Constitution, per Bork.

Albeit the premise is a bit shaky, the question absolutely confounds the 'conservative' commentators who believe that SCOTUS was right.