No one seems to mention the age of consent in the U.S. Virgin Islands is 13, (rape of course and trafficking not lawful).
I wonder if that is going to be a factor in the whole Epstein island trials. He likely picked that area for this reason.
Doesn’t matter what age of consent is there. US law makes it illegal for a US citizen to travel to engage in sex with someone under 18
https://www.justice.gov/criminal/criminal-ceos/extraterritorial-sexual-exploitation-children
Some unsettling historical facts.....
snip......
“In 1890, the age at which girls could consent to sex was 12 or younger in 38 states. In Delaware, it was seven.......
Based on English Common Law dating back to the 1500s, American lawmakers had selected 10 or 12 as the age of consent to coincide with the onset of puberty, as if once a girl menstruated she was ready to have sex.”....snip
In the hills, it was said that if she bleeds, she breeds.
Crude, but biologically accurate and in a society without the ability/desire to closely monitor/control access to young females, an unpleasant fact given our current mores.
As late as the 1970’s, legal age was 13 in many southern states.
Let’s specify now that I performed the genuflecting kabuki dance of “...now I don’t condone underage sex....and I condemn sex trafficking...”
The change in consent laws was driven by upper and middle class Victorian and Edwardian mores.....ie only the rich should be able to fornicate freely and with children and each other in secret......and whores...but only the rich.
This is the same Puritan tribalism that agitated effectively for suffragism, abolition, and child labor.
Just wanted to add some historical context.
I don’t have the statute handy, but recently read that it is a crime to bring minors to another country for sex, even if the other country has a lower age of consent.