To me, statutory rape is an age issue like drinking where different culture determine their own lines for the “too young to fuck” category.

Like Rune said, in some countries the age is much lower. They seem to get by just fine.
Who reported the crime?Her parents?If the sex was consentual, and her parents filed the suit, then I think that it is bullshit to jump on the guy. I don’t know the circumstances under which he had sex. If he had sex with a 15 year-old who still doesn’t regret it then I agree that he shouldn’t face such a stiff penalty. Sure there should be a penalty, but its such a subjective matter.

And lets all remember our reactions towards the young boy who had sex with his teacher. Our opinions towards these matters are totally skewed by gender roles. At least a lot of people are. There are a lot of laws on the books that are just an arbitrary line drawn by someone who isn’t affected by that line. Drinking age is 21 in America but it is 18 or 16 in Europe.

It also depends if said 15-year-old has had sex before with another minor. That would affect matters greatly in my opinion. If she chooses to have sex with someone of her own age, it shouldn’t matter if she chooses an older guy
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I am not saying that it is acceptable, but I can imagine a situation where I think it isn’t worthy of 10 years in prison. Imagine a guy who had some kind of prior relatioship with her who found her at a party where she had a little to drink where they laterwent off to a private room where they had sex and people heard them having sex and a couple of people heard them or may have walked in on them (your 1+ witness right there). If the word got out that she had sex with this guy through gossip and got back to her parents who decided to file suit, then I would think that it is less than fair.

But then there is the obvious chance that it was a dude who saw a really hot 15 year-old who was at a party who was really drunk and convinced her to have sex with him. That’s what wedon’tknow.