Hi All:
I have been mulling over a legal hypothetical for some time now.
As a law student I spend a lot of time looking at different situations and trying to figure out any potential legal ramifications.
Therefore, what I am about to lay out is a hypothetical only I have no intention of making it reality.
Hypothetical:
We know that the court at it's discretion can "Emancipate" a minor child if it feels that the child in question is capable of caring for himself or herself, a good case in point is actress Alicia Silverstone, who is over the age of majority now but was granted emancipation to pursue her film career.
My question is, if an adult engages in bona fide consentual sex with an emancipated minor can LE still construe that as statutory rape?
I think not, yet I can see others disagreeing with me.
Again, this is purely hypothetical yet I am curious to see what the rest of you think.
Thanks
The petition for emancipation that would be filed with the court would contain the conditions of the emancipation. In general, those conditions address issues of liability on the part of the parents, and the right of the petitioner to reside outside the supervision the petitioner’s parents. In essence, the conditions are pretty much “boiler plate.”
In California, there is no provision contained within the Welfare and Institutions Code that would exempt the petitioner from a minor’s status regarding state law. The court could not grant the petitioner the right to purchase tobacco products, obtain a Driver’s License, etc., or any other right not afforded a person under the age of 18. Therefore, statuary rape, (in California the section is titled “Unlawful sexual intercourse with a person under 18. §261.5 CPC) would still apply.
In reality, the adult male would have to petition the court to exempt him from §261.5 CPC in order to have sexual relations with the emancipated minor. A petition the court could not grant.
they'd still be brother and sister.
(note: I'm from AR, so I have the right to talk trash about the Natural State... )
how is this any different from the age of consent laws?
many states already have laws on the books that allow a minor xx years old to consent to sexual intercourse with a partner over 18. the age varies from state to state but usually around 15-16 if I'm not mistaken. I'm not sure how it works in the courts, but I believe the teen will be required to testify for the defendant (his/her alleged partner) under oath that they are of sound mind, and were not forced into any act that they did not knowingly agree to.
how I know about this is a similar situation happened to a friend of mine back in high school, after her parents paid for the second abortion, daddy put a restraining order on the 20something boyfriend.
best regards and despise pedophiles, mr.man
The crime of statutory rape does not have any relation to whether the minor is "emancipated." As long as her age and your age meet the criteria for statutory rape, you are SOL. As a law student, you should know that statutory rape is a strict liability crime, which means that the prosecutor need not establish intent. If something as basic as lack of intent cannot be used in defense of the defendant, then I would suggest that other ancillary factors, such as emancipation, also cannot be used.
Thanks for the spanking. You are right O should have known better.
The only defense I have (such as it is is that When I took Criminal law. had an absolutly awful professor, who was such a prude she just "glossed" over sex crimes on her lecture. I think she gavr it all of 15 minutes.
But either way your right I should have read that on my own.
Thanks again for the spanking.
I didn't mean it to be a spanking. I think that what you're doing is a very good way of learning the material...taking the law and applying it to different situations helps you get a very deep understanding of the law. Application of the law to different fact patterns is what law school exams are all about! Good luck on exams.