Statutory Rape

Statutory Rape: Case Characteristics When Offenders are Younger Than 21 Years of Age Versus Older

“…In their descriptive analysis of over 7,500 cases of statutory rape crimes reported to police across 21 states, Troup-Leasure and Snyder (2005) reported that statutory rape had higher arrest rates than forcible rape—42% versus 35%. These higher arrest rates are surprising and highlight the critical need for more data on statutory rape cases, especially given concerns that some states prosecute the very group statutory rape laws were designed to protect (High, 2016) and that we need exemptions to reflect factors such as the “youthfulness of the defendant” (Robinson & Williams, 2017, p. 207).…”

“…As there is no research to date to substantiate that a cut-off of 21 years of age correctly captures important distinguishing case characteristics (e.g., victim risk, perceived coercion), it is unclear which state laws—those creating a cut-off or those without one—are functioning as intended. The data showing that over half of statutory rape offenders may be 21 and younger raise such questions (Cohen, 2009; Frakes & Harding, 2015; High, 2016; Robinson & Williams, 2017) as well as raise the question of why research has yet to ask questions about a 21-year-of-age divide. To the best of our knowledge, research has yet to examine any presumption of less harm (coercion and other risks) coming to adolescent victims involved with offenders younger than 21 versus older or to speak to whether we need to worry that states’ statutory rape laws vary with regard to whether and where they draw their offender age lines (Glosser et al, 2004).…”