International Age of Consent

Given how many introductions are made on the Internet, especially where the two parties live in different states or even countries, you need a uniform country-wide set of laws to cover age of consent and related issues such as apparent age, age on offered ID, puberty reached, age difference, involvement of drugs or payment and just how close to the legal-illegal boundary an incident occurred. The constitution might block the federal government from introducing a uniform legal code, but that would not stop states from gradually harmonising their age of consent laws (much as Canadian provinces are harmonising their sales tax law.) The current laws are simplistic. They harshly punish the relatively innocent and slap the wrists of the fiendish. The advantage to prudes of harmonisation, is that a uniform code will have more authority. As it is, the inconsistency with the laws of nearby states shout Your laws are wrong. Ignore them. They are not real laws.

~ Roedy (1948-02-04 age:70)