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Age of Consent Ought to be 16 in America

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C David GuittardC David Guittard (PRO)
Growing up requires adjusting to a lot of new responsibilities.  There's driving, for example... being responsible for what is potentially a less-than-lethal at it's best (Ethan Couch, the "influenza" case, who at 16 was responsible for taking lives due to his irresponsibility) weapon.  Also, teenagers are expected to know how to handle firearms in a responsible manner.  The majority of these teens have no problem with either because they were raised correctly. 

To say that consensual sex with a 16-year old ought to be criminalized not only goes against the wishes of most American states (http://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/age-of-consent-by-state.html) but other first world countries such as:
Canada: 16 http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-s-age-of-consent-raised-by-2-years-1.754941
Britain: 16 http://www.bbc.com/news/health-24976929
Australia: 16 https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/publications/age-consent-laws
France: 15 https://www.ageofconsent.net/world/france
Germany: 14 https://www.ageofconsent.net/world/france
Japan: 13 https://www.ageofconsent.net/world/japan

Not so far fetched when one considered the Judeo-Christian AOC (Age of Consent) remains 13 for adulthood. `Even this doesn't sound strange considering the AOC for ancient Greece was 10 and for Romans, 7.

I am proposing 16, to keep in line with the majority of state's self-determination as well as other countries' standards.  It's is argued that an individual under 18 is a child.  This wasn't always the case and it shouldn't be the case for 16-year olds today.  Susanna Dickinson, an Alamo survivor, was married when she was 15, her husband was 29.  This wasn't unheard of in history. I present this source (which I haven't vetted, but they do cite their work and it goes with other documentation I've found) which puts the historical AOC lower than the federally mandated 18. https://discover-the-truth.com/2013/09/09/age-of-consent-in-european-american-history/.  As an aside, some of the ages that were recently legal in America were appalling. 

So now we've discussed how 16-year olds can be adults.  Let's look at a situation where a 16-year old female gets impregnated by a 16-year old male.  How prepared to take care of a child is that union going to be?  It's a scientific fact that the female is more mature than the male. Contrast this to a union where the male is of career age, a Susannah and Almaron Dickinson union.  Wouldn't the older male be more in a place to help raise that child and IF he weasels out, wouldn't he be able to be sued for child support?  That seems a lot more responsible to society than having the father incarcerated where he wouldn't be contributing at all. 

Return To Top | Posted:
2017-03-22 13:47:35
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