Laws against underage sex need to have more realistic exemptions.

[Tiberius]

You have to define "fair." The rules are posted - everyone knows what they mean...we even have a term - jail bait - to refer to underage girls.

By fair, I mean that rules should be there to protect actual victims, rather than some sense of moral superiority. In possibly all cases, a 50 year old having a relationship with a 15 year old is probably not a case of the 15 year old being fully aware and capable of giving proper consent. In the case of two young people, at the same school, on the same sports team, and separated by only a few years, the case just isn't there.

This case surely demonstrates that the law shouldn't be black and white. Yes, technically the older girl broke the law, but the law was there to protect younger people from abuse, which is clearly not what the older girl was doing. Instead of protecting a 15 year old from an abusive partner, the system is wasting money prosecuting one half of what was apparently a good relationship with no ill intent.

I do wonder what the younger girl's parents were doing in the run-up to the older one's 18th birthday?

Well, according to the 18 year old's Uncle, they actually started dating around the time when she started dating the younger girl. The parents of the younger girl waited before prosecuting; whether that is because they didn't know about the relationship is still unknown. It doesn't paint them in a good light though.

Do understand though that in most cases judges are elected by the same bunch of redneck morons who elected the state legislators that passed these laws in the first place. Worse, many judges are merely lawyers who have been politically active in whichever party dominates the area in question. It is not a pretty picture.

I absolutely understand that, but I still don't think that's a good enough reason not to fix a badly written law. Judges come and go, judicial decisions can be overridden by appeals, etc.

I suppose a system could be devised which was not based on age. I shudder to think what it might be.

I just think this is one area which clearly cannot be decided by looking at one aspect like age. I have no problems with age being part of the process, but relationships are complex and we shouldn't ignore other factors that play an important role.