The Genarlow Wilson case has thrust age of consent laws into the spotlight. Wilson was just released from prison on Oct. 26 after serving a two-year aggravated child molestation sentence for having oral sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17. In Georgia, the age of consent is 16.

An Associated Press article yesterday quoted school administrators who said sex education needs to include information about age of consent laws because many people are unaware that consensual teenage sex is often a crime. Adding to the confusion, the legal age of consent varies by state, ranging from 14 to 18.

“We do a disgraceful job of educating kids about the very real consequences that they face,” said J. Tom Morgan, a former DeKalb County district attorney who has a new book coming out called “Ignorance Is No Defense: A Teenagers Guide to Georgia Law.”

“If society is going to punish them as adults,” said Morgan, “then society ought to educate them.”

The executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association countered this, saying federally-funded abstinence-only programs are encouraged to teach age of consent laws as part of their classes.

But Wilson said sex education classes are lacking.

“Most of the time they just tell kids, ‘Use condoms,’” Wilson told The Associated Press
“That’s not the only thing they need to know about sex. They need to know that they can actually go to jail.”

Are you aware of the age of consent laws in your state? Do you think the laws are overly confusing, considering that the consent also varies depending on the closeness in age of the two participants? I thought it was interesting that the article mentioned new “Romeo and Juliet” exceptions by some states to prevent sexually active teenagers from being lumped together with child molesters.

Curious about the laws in your state? Avert, an international AIDS charity, has compiled worldwide age of consent laws. (U.S. state-by-state laws are near the bottom of the table.)

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