Age of consent for sex and for marriage

[DavidEBernstein at aol.com]

Of course lawyers shouldn't be the ONLY ones to answer this, but "child  
advocates" shouldn't be either.  Their record includes the "satanic abuse"  witch 
hunts of the 80s, psychiatrists and social workers persuading vulnerable  
women (and some men) that their problems could be attributed to "repressed  
memories"  (which, if it exists at all, is much, much rarer than many  advocates of 
the theory suggested) of sexual abuse by their  parents, destroying many 
families, asking and repeating leading  questions to and even threatening children 
who claimed that they weren't  abused until they "acknowledged" abuse, and 
even sexually abusing children in  the name of prosecuting alleged sexual abuse, 
see 
_http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2007_06_17-2007_06_23.shtml#1182459346_ (http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2007_06_17-2007_06_23.shtml#1182459346) .
 
It goes without saying child advocates have done many wonderful  things, too, 
but the idea that they have some special insight that leaves them  
invulnerable to criticism from mere law professors isn't sound.
 
In a message dated 4/24/2008 9:02:13 PM Eastern Daylight Time,  
Hamilton02 at aol.com writes:

Eugene--  The answer is not best answered by lawyers or law  professors.  
It's a matter for those who deal directly with  children.  The increase in the 
age of consent in the United States is the  direct result of children's 
advocates and experts who see up close what  happens when we have relatively low ages 
of consent.  The answer is  more sexual abuse, as in more unwanted sex on 
children perpetrated by  adults.  Pushing up the age of consent creates a greater 
buffer  around children to resist sexual assault from adults.  Pushing it  
down creates more defenses for adults intent on sex with children.   




David E.  Bernstein
Professor
George Mason University School of  Law
http://mason.gmu.edu/~dbernste



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