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Teens have right to have sex, lawyer argues (Huh?!?)
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ^ | 8.21.03 | JAMAAL ABDUL-ALIM

Posted on 08/21/2003 7:32:39 PM PDT by 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.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; US: Wisconsin
KEYWORDS: activistcourt; activistcourts; activistsupremecourt; ageofconsent; ageofconsentlaws; catholiclist; hedonists; homosexualagenda; itsjustsex; lawrencevtexas; libertines; notconsentingadults; privacylaws; prochildsexcrowd; pubescentsex; sex; sexlaws; slipperyslope; sodomylaws; statutoryrape; teenpregnancy; teens; teensex
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To: patton
Some people might think the Earth will be destroyed tomorrow since I actually agree with you, as a Christian conservative.

Look, in the Puritan days, people would routinely married at 14.

Enforcing kid morals is the job of parents, not the govt.
61 posted on 08/21/2003 9:42:38 PM PDT by rwfromkansas ("Men stumble over the truth, but most pick themselves up as if nothing had happened." Churchill)
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To: WOSG
These prosecutors don't go after Nambla nearly as much as they should because nambla has power. Going after a 14 year old girl with an incompetent parent is much easier.
62 posted on 08/21/2003 9:44:44 PM PDT by At _War_With_Liberals
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To: weegee
I should in that circumstance.
63 posted on 08/21/2003 9:46:01 PM PDT by At _War_With_Liberals
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To: mhking
they act like this would never happen,

13-16 years olds screwing...nothing new there heard about it all the time in school and still do today,

Barf Alert

64 posted on 08/21/2003 9:46:08 PM PDT by MetalHeadConservative35 (Zug Island: Where jesus isnt the only thing that can walk on water)
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To: StriperSniper
I guess having ADD has some advantages...
65 posted on 08/21/2003 9:47:45 PM PDT by At _War_With_Liberals
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To: At _War_With_Liberals
"i believe the family should straighten them out by any means possible. "

I agree, ideally. It's unfortunate that (as the article made clear) these kids were from homes so fractured the parents felt they had to turn to the authorities as the only way they could 'control' the situation. As such, the "in loco parentis" behavior of state authorities is better than the alternatives (runaways and JDs without controls; read the part where the boy got probation if he stayed out of trouble but couldnt get through the probation period, that's a 'gimme' that this is more than just innocents caught 'at play').

Agree on the drug side of it, though; unless there is true psychosis, disorder, or depression, that's just an invitation to encourage future drug use.
66 posted on 08/21/2003 9:52:46 PM PDT by WOSG
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To: mhking
The teens even "challenged" the woman to call police. So she did.

There would have been no police call in my home. There may have been one from a neighbor reporting "shots fired".

67 posted on 08/21/2003 10:01:07 PM PDT by Rightwing Conspiratr1
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To: Lorianne
The INTENT of the law is to criminalize adults who sexually prey upon and exploit children.

If that is true then the law is a ass.
Explain to me how being preyed upon and exploited by someone your own age is different?

68 posted on 08/21/2003 10:01:20 PM PDT by Publius6961
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To: WOSG
Overall, its just frustrating because there are no solutions that are working that will straighten these kids out.
69 posted on 08/21/2003 10:06:22 PM PDT by At _War_With_Liberals
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To: mhking
I have big time problems with this. Not with the mother, not with the children, but the powers that be.

Sexual assault? Call me silly, but I kinda associate assault with force, or at the very least adult guile used to unfairly breach an innocent child's defenses.

If these little delinquents wind up on a sexual offenders/predators list for life, a horrible miscarriage of justice has been done. Whatever happned to being charged with plain Jane deliquency?

70 posted on 08/21/2003 10:07:43 PM PDT by Melas
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To: Publius6961
It is different because two people cannot "prey" upon each other. Adults have a huge advantage in preying upon less experienced, naive children. The article does not say that any force was used. And they are both being prosecuted for "sexual assault" on each other.

That is insane.

In a true sexual assault case, the adult is the legally culpable party. The child is not legally liable. So how can two children be legally liable?
71 posted on 08/21/2003 10:14:59 PM PDT by Lorianne
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To: mhking
Wow. I can't believe the mother turned them in! That's basically like saying to the government "I'm a crappy mom. Why don't you take over for me?"

I'm just glad that my mother never turned ME in when she found out that my girlfriend and myself were "assaulting" each other. We never realized that we were both multiple felons!
72 posted on 08/21/2003 10:17:53 PM PDT by mansion
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To: Capriole
What about the boy's parents?
73 posted on 08/21/2003 10:18:51 PM PDT by Lorianne
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To: KurtChicago
Do YOU have any children of your own ? Are you even all that much older than these two children ?

You couldn't be father from the truth and/or reality. Fourteen year olds, even when phyically well developed, have no , NO " right " to engage in sexual intercourse. They can't drive, they can't vote, they can't go into the military, can't get a job ( except for baby sitting or snow shoveling or some such ) without their parents' permission, they can't legally wed, they can't buy alcohol nor tobacco legally, can't sign a contract of any sort and yet YOU think it's pkay for them to engage in sexual activities ?

And, " knowing the consequences of a teen pregnancy " is one of the least prerequisits of the matter. These children are belligerent, have lawyers who blame it all on ADD, parental abandonment ( my guess iis children of divorce ), and a passel of other garbage. They are incorageables. And yet, YOU want to " let them just do it " ? Are they base animals, or human beings ? You act as though they are wild beasts.

74 posted on 08/21/2003 10:19:33 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: Charles H. (The_r0nin)
Right you are and I find it shocking and disheartening, to see supposed Conservatives, on this thread, spewing such extreme liberal hogwash, as the one you replied to.
75 posted on 08/21/2003 10:25:57 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: Fledermaus
And you're proud of this ?
76 posted on 08/21/2003 10:28:38 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: giznort
" 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."

so the result of your sliding down the slippery slope and your father "doing a damn thing about it" would have been to have him murder the two of you. Splendid! Magnificent solution of a personal social problem.
77 posted on 08/21/2003 10:37:13 PM PDT by drjoe
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To: KurtChicago
Let them do it, for crying out loud. But it would be nice if those kids knew the consequences of a teen pregnancy.

I have a feeling that these two teenagers are going to have problematic lives.

78 posted on 08/21/2003 10:38:56 PM PDT by usadave
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To: usadave
" Going to ... " ? They have utterly damaged lives right now ! Both are out of control children, who have little regard for themselves and less for anyone else.
79 posted on 08/21/2003 10:40:55 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: mhking
Linke better get ready for a truck-load full of judicial smackdown. He's a hotdogging idiot.
80 posted on 08/21/2003 10:54:52 PM PDT by MattAMiller
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