Law needs to be changed
I would like to comment on an article in the Jan. 13 Garden Island newspaper, “Kauai sex offender arrested.”
The perpetrator was 21 years old, the victim possibly 14 years old. For your information, in Hawaii a 14-year-old can legally consent to sex with a person up to five years older. So the 21-year-old is in trouble in this situation. What about a 21-year-old able to buy liquor and seducing a 16-year-old? He or she is in the five-year law.
Does anyone else see a problem with this law? So, legally, a 19-year-old can have sex with a 14-year-old if they give their consent. A 14-year-old, in my opinion, is not mature enough to make that decision.
Is a 14-year-old able to parent a child, in the case of a pregnancy? This is a possibility. Is a 14-year-old able to support a child? In the case of impregnating someone five years older? Of course not!
This is a terribly irresponsible law, and very troubling that no politician has addressed it. Do they not have teenage children? Most states have a more-common-sense law of 18 being the consenting age for sex.
This is, in my opinion, the right thing to do for our teenage children.
Linda Bothe, Kalaheo
A 10 year old is mature enough to form criminal intent and be prosecuted by the system. A 14 year old is mature enough to be treated as an adult for every one of their decisions. A 16 year old is mature enough to operate a motor vehicle and hold legal employment. A 17 year old is mature enough to enlist in the military as long as one parent signs off.
You want to raise the age of consent to 18? I would be all for that as long as you raise all of the above to 18. How can you possibly have a person drive a car, hold a job and become a soldier but not let them engage in (biologically appropriate) sex?
I propose we make the age of consent the age of criminal culpability. Period. One is either an immature child, or one isn’t. At least the age a minor can be treated as an adult. Why should a person old enough to be sentenced to life in adult prison not sleep with whomever they decide? Be that a 19 year old, a 21 year old or a 91 year old.
All your hysterical proposal would do is make criminals out of even more young men than we already have. Here is another thought…. if a 14 year old is not mature enough to have sex, but a 10 year old is mature enough to be held accountable for breaking the law….. how about we make it a crime for people under 16 to have sex – and punish them accordingly? Problem solved. You are welcome.
Thank you for that information.