Posted on 05/21/2012 10:21:30 PM PDT by SmithL
Parents may pay the price for an illicit love affair between a teenage girl and her grown-up boyfriend.
Stephen Rogers Jr. faces a charge of statutory rape, but police have also charged his girlfriend's parents with child neglect.
The parents admitted they didn't stop the relationship, in fact they did something to signal their approval.
She's 15. He's 21.
Bottom line: Their sexual relationship broke the law.
But some do not see this as a black-and-white kind of issue.
The young love between a 15-year-old girl and her 21-year-old boyfriend has this neighborhood taking sides.
"Some 15 year olds may be able to handle it, and some may not," neighbor Virginia Presnell said.
"He seems like a good guy," neighbor Angela Moore said. "I know there's an age difference, quite an age difference, but they're actually a really good couple. They're almost one of those perfect little couples you never see anymore."
Police arrested and charged Stephen Rogers Jr. on a single charge of statutory rape, but he's dated the 15-year-old for months.
Her parents liked Stephen, and six months ago, they invited him to live with their daughter inside their home.
Some neighbors saw a problem.
"I don't think a 15-year-old should be with a 21-year-old," Presnell said.
But some neighbors like Moore seem conflicted.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Another thread speculates on what the lib agenda will be after legalizing and normalizing gay marriage will be. One strong contender is lowering the age of consent drastically and legitimizing pedophilia. Expect to see more stories like this.
Some of this is cultural. Some of it is biological. Now it's about laws.
/johnny
Some of this is about governments with unlimited budgets that do not have to prioritize what legal actions to take.
I was pretty harsh about it, in some cases, the tattoo artist in particular.
I did luck out and they chose wisely. I have good son-in-laws. Mostly.
/johnny
People don’t realize that this was not shocking during the 1960s and 1970s, it was not completely everyday or encouraged, in fact it was discouraged, and statutory rape laws existed (like drunk driving laws of the distant past), but people weren’t totally shocked when a 15 or 16 year old girl and a 19 or 21 year old guy found each other.
Usually that merely drew some scrutiny into what kind of guy he was, I think the left turned this into an absolutely mandatory freak out, involve the law thing.
When my parents got married, my mother was 16, and my father was 21 after returning from Vietnam. Would he and my grandparents get charged with a crime if it were today?
I remember when I was 16, and my girlfriend (now wife of 12 years) just turned 18, and she was frightened at the possibility of being done for statutory rape. It really is a dumb law. Instead of having an age of consent there should be a law on the age gap.
I thought the underlying liberal principal is “kids are going to do it anyway so let’s just give them a free condom or a free abortion.”
You mean there are laws against this??? < /sarc >
Mother nature is always right.
Man in his infinite folly sometimes seeks to legislate against mother nature.
It is liberals who seek to enact controls upon mother nature (God by another name)
“It is liberals who seek to enact controls upon mother nature (God by another name).
Perhaps this is more accurate, if less charitable:
“It is liberals who seek to enact controls over other people using mother nature (God by another name) as the excuse.
I am of the opinion that if the parents and the child agree, the government should have no control. Parents are, on the average, more concerned with the well being of their children than a bureaucrat.
And, may I note that Will and Arial Durant had a very successful marriage despite their ages when married.
Government (and Liberals) have no Constitutional basis for such intrusion into family and private decisions.
And some in the "old days" were victims of overlooked abuse. Now when I see a 21 year old guy around 15 year old girls I just think creepy loser. Go find somebody your own age! You can seem like a “decent” guy but why were you prowling around 15 year olds in the first place? A 21 year old is junior in college age, 15 or 16 is tenth grade. Yuck!
“My first ex-wife’s grandmother was 13 when she got married on a North Texas prarie.”
Laura Ingalls Wilder spoke of such things in her books. I suppose it happened. Consider 13 year olds were doing hard work in the house it really did not matter if they got married at 13 back then.
Back then. It is 2012 and most 13 year olds are not running a farm.
Age gap seems more appropriate, I agree with that.
As a parent I would not condone their behavior. I would not allow it with my knowledge. But OTOH if their urge to merge as some call it is so strong then let them marry. In Tennessee a 16 year old is considered a medical adult. They can even obtain an abortion without parents consent or knowledge.
No offense taken, as I am well known to advocate “Islam Delenda Est - because of what Islam is and what Moslims do”. I should have anticipated that oversight and noted that I always exclude Moslims due to the fact that Islam is antithetical to, and irreconcilable with, America.
Yes, the issue of parental abuse is a possibility. The present socialists delight gives to unrelated, often antagoinistic bureaucrats the powers once assigned by G*d to the family, under the assumption that said family had accepted the “Covenant” - Jewish, Catholic, Protest versioins being ethically and in matter of behavioral norms essentially identical.
Islam is in NO way part of that “Covenant”.
I am all for “complaints”, but to give the complainer the raw power of the government’s gun is asking for the present situation.
Said situation is that in Florida (probably same in other states) a child taken from the family and given to AgencyPersons for physical or sexual abuse WILL be beaten or raped more than before said removal.
There are things a government can’t do. Raising children is one such thing.
The problem here is a lot of men aren't looking for wives. They are looking for sex without marriage, and that is both dishonorable and sinful. If they were man and wife, it's a different situation. Of course, a lot of women these days aren't exactly moral either. Many (most) are not only willing to have sex outside of marriage, they actually prefer sex now and marriage maybe later after a series of men.
That said, I definitely think the sex offender laws are too extreme. If this 21 year old man is found guilty, he would probably be classified as a sex offender. Yet, this is clearly not in the same league as pedophilia. I just don't know where I'd draw the line between statutory rape and a consensual relationship.
You and a dozen others who cite instances of marriage at 13 and 21 or whatever miss the point: those instances involved marriage. Especially when the grandparents and aunts and others being mentioned here got married, marriage was for keeps.
So, the young man and young woman were making a commitment with legal, financial, social consequences. They made the commitment publicly. If one was under the legal age for marriage, a judge had to sign off on it. That meant he could interrogate the couple, assess maturity etc.
This situation involves parents letting the young man get away with total lack of accountability—get’s his buzz and has no accountability. Parents who let their daughter be used—and that’s what it is, she is being used and nothing else,
should be hung (metaphorically, of course).
There is no comparison between this and the situations people are bringing up in the comments.
Do people really not see the difference?
I agree with you. They were letting this guy live in their home and “sleep” with their daughter. If they were letting her marry him that would be different. Although I wouldn’t approve of that either.
“You and a dozen others who cite instances of marriage at 13 and 21 or whatever miss the point: those instances involved marriage...”
That was my first thought.
These two weren't married. They were permitted, if not invited, to have a shack-up relationship in her parents house. For those of you who think only of the bottom line and think morality is nonsense, if the girl gets pregnant and the guy leaves her (quite common), who do you think pays for their child? You do.
Even secular conservatives ought to favor marriages and intact families. That's the bulwark against government control over everything. We can start by not drawing an equivalence between a 15-year-old shacking up with a 21-year-old, and marriage between any male and female, regardless of their ages.
“Although I wouldn’t approve of that either.”
Eggzackly. And why wouldn’t you approve of letting her marry him at 15? Because (tell me if I’m wrong), you figure that at 15, esp. with a 21-year old, she’s probably not really making a level-headed, mature decision. But we know, instinctively, that marriage is a major decision, one not to be taken lightly, one that requires maturity.
But screwing each other? No big deal. Nothing to see here. No consequences—they can screw for a while than split up and then come back and screw some more and who cars? No legal consequences, no financial consequences, no social consequences. Paradise for the young man.
Of course there are moral, pyschological and other consequences for screwing around outside of marriage, but our society claims they don’t exist, that marriage is just a piece of paper.
So, precisely because marriage really meant something back when the grandparents and aunts and cousins mentioned upthread got married at age 13 or 15, it was scrutinized carefully and marriage that young was the exception, not the norm.
Now screwing is normal from age 7 onward and who cares? Just having fun. Nothing more.
Ain’t it wunnerful?
These parents should be charged, they are horrible.
What kind of perverts are they? Do they think they live in Hollywood or something?
Here is a good rule for parents to use on their kids:
When you are old for sex, MOVE OUT
The rule should be that if you are old enough for sex, you can MOVE OUT and take care of yourself.
My late uncle, who was one of the smartest men that I ever had the pleasure of knowing, explained “the rule” of age differance:
“Half your age plus seven years is the youngest you should date.”
Politicians can't make better decisions than loving parents can.
Kevin Jennings would probably be ok with the age difference, but he might object to the heterosexuality of it all....
He isn't.
My friend was 15 when he started dating a 21 year old woman. Now 11 years later they are married. As another poster mentioned they were both terrified she would get charged with statuary rape and kept things discrete.
Either that or polygamy.
Guess the western world hasn’t reached rock bottom yet.
Looks like it will be a rough landing when it does.
The key distinction here is between marriage and no-commitment sex. If a 20-something guy with a job was marriage-serious about a 16-year old daughter of mine, I would be OK with it.
No I think you missed the part of my comments where I said I would not condone or allow them having sex with me knowing about it. But if their urges became too strong I said let them marry. I'm 54 and there were several girls in my high school who were in fact married. Actually the allowed age to marry varies or did vary then widely state too state with Georgia I think being the lowest age Without parental permission.
Yep. At thirteen they can't legally run a french fry machine or hold a job.
I'm not sure that is an improvement.
I agree. The situation they allowed in their home I would not have allowed though even if daughter was 21.
Lock the whole family away and toss the key..
The ages of the girl and man in question were within the normal relm of what society a generation ago accepted as old enough for a marriage with an age space about normal between the couple.
They were stupid IMO {the parents} to allow what was going on in their home outside of marriage. In other words they should have told them OK if you insist on this then we insist on a license and a commitment to each other. Believe me the DCS is far more Liberal than even the girls parents. But they will use this as a case where they go all out. In the mean time true molesters and true abusers have a reunification plan written by DCS.
My rule:
No! until your 18
after you are 18, who gives a crap?
any adult having sex with a 15 year old should be shot.
Adults are supposed to have good judgement and some kind of maturity, these people obviously do not have that.
I will always be grateful to my maternal grandfather for running off all the 'hip' dudes my mother liked so much when she was a teenager. When my dad finally showed up, he got the stamp of approval, and the rest is family history.
My own daughter is 14 now, and I've already told her to expect the same from me. Thankfully, she gets it.
Best time I ever had with the tattoo/hardware guy was when I met him at the 4th of July party at my house. He shook my hand and asked how I was. I held onto his hand way too long, looked him in the eye, and said "About half-lit and carrying a weapon".
He washed dishes for the party after the dinner. And I never saw him again.
/johnny
Heh.... I've warned my daughter to expect that sort of thing from me if she ever brings some unworthy fella home.
When I was fifteen I scared off one of my (divorced) mom's wanna-be boyfriends in similar fashion. I'd watched the guy for a while, and had concluded that he was a no good, conniving con artist.
One evening when my mom was out of earshot, I flat out told him that I didn't think my mom was right for him, and that I was a troubled teenager who liked to play with guns.
Never saw hide nor hair of him again.
Laugh hysterically for no apparent reason, and the world tends to keep their distance.
I'm a believer in counterintelpro.
Especially where my daughters were concerned.
/johnny
You're a good man, my friend. Keep laughing ;-)
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