Hey all you crazy 14 year olds in Indiana, go out and start having wild and reckless sex! It’s legal now – even with adults. And you grown ups, find yourself a hot little teen and go nuts. No holds barred, its party time!
At least, that’s what you’d think from listening to some media reports of a new law that took effect on July 1st. As with many media reports, what is true may not be entirely accurate.
Public Law 216 is an attempt to modify some of the unintended consequences of increasing legal reactions to sex with minors, such as those that imprisoned Genarlow Wilson who has been discussed previously in this blog. It is one variation of a type of law enacted in many states, known collectively as “Romeo and Juliet” laws; the intention being to stop treating consensual sex between members of roughly the same age group as a criminal and sexual offense. These laws usually have a lower age for peer sex consent, and an age range that is covered. The specific ages vary from state to state, with Indiana’s stipulations being no younger than 14, and no greater than a 4 year age difference. Thus, a 14 year old could have consensual sex with an 18 year old (or 15 with 19, or 16 with 20, or 17 with 21). That is what has lead to the media’s interpretation that adult sex with minors has been legalized.
Look, all of us can quibble with some of the specifics of some of the laws, but on balance the InterNetwork for Youth supports the Romeo and Juliet concept. There is nothing in these laws that excuse non-consensual sex, nor is there anything in them that promotes sexual activity. They simply are an attempt to stop criminalizing the normal, healthy sex drives of adolescents. Turning an entire generation into potential sex offenders with criminal records that will follow them the rest of their lives seems to me to be a far greater harm than any potential downsides of the Romeo and Juliet laws.
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