Statutory Rape in Florida - Coursework Example

Introduction According to the U.S. Department of Justice, sta y rape can be described as the act of engaging in sexual activity with an individual who is below the age of consent1. As noted by the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, a child who is below the age of 16 years may not consent to any acts and/ or actions relating to sexual activity regardless of the age of the defendant. Secondly, a child who is 16 years of age but less than 18 years cannot be in a position to consent to sexual activity if the other party is 24 years of age or older2. Based on that description, this research paper shall seek to focus on statutory rape in the state of Florida. This is due to the reason that this is an issue that has been existent in the state for quite a while and some laws are at times considered void depending on the scenario projected to the judge. The topic that shall be discussed shall be focussed on “How the state of Florida handled statutory rape between 1990 to 2012”. As such, the paper shall also discuss how the state’s legislative arm acted based on statutory rapes; how the state’s judicial arm acted; how the state’s governor acted and how the media spoke about the existing political and legal issues related to this issue. Factual/Legal Information How the state’s legislative arm acted According to U.S national data that was retrieved by the National Incident Based Report (NIBR), Florida State included, it was evidenced that for every incident of statutory rape that occurred, there were at least other three (3) instances of forcible rapes in the nation. This meant that a lot of victims – approximately 90% of statutory rape ordeals had encountered only one offender while 89% of ordeals had encountered forcible rape. Moreover, the data from NIBR also included that in the majority of instances of statutory rape in the U.S, 29% of these instances were between individuals who were in a relationship – that is, girlfriend and boyfriend situation. In addition to that, 62% of these cases were attributed to acquaintances and/ or colleagues. It was also noted that approximately 2% of these statistics were cases that were related to strangers to the victim and 7% were related to cases between the victim and their family member3. The State of Florida has a number of legislative laws and prosecutions that relate to offenses described in their statutory rape act that the state has the optimal capability to respond to harshly. These include: a) Lewd or lascivious conduct: These involve an individual who “intentionally touches a person under the age of 16 years in a lewd or lascivious manner” or “solicits a person under 16 years of age to commit a lewd or lascivious act commits lewd or lascivious conduct”4. b) Lewd or lascivious battery: These involve an individual who engages in sexual activity and/ or activities with an individual aged 12 years but less than 16 years of age or cases where an one individual “encourages, forces or entices” another individual aged 16 years to sexual acts such as sadomasochistic abuse, sexual bestiality sexual activity and prostitution5. c) Unlawful sexual activity with certain minors: A person aged 24 years or older engaging in sexual activity with an individual aged 16 to 17 years old6. d) Lewd or lascivious molestation: These involve an individual: aged 18 years and above who commits lewd or lascivious molestation with a victim aged 12 years or below; less than 18 years of age who commits lewd or lascivious molestation with a victim aged 12 years to 16 years7. Based on above state legislative laws, it is without doubt that any individual who goes against any of these laws is subjected to punishment for doing so. A good example of a statutory rape case related to how the legislative arm was enacted was that of two 15 year old girls who mentioned that they had engaged in sexual activity since they wanted to do so with their boyfriends who were aged 19 and 20 years old. In their court hearing that was chaired by Circuit Judge Lockett, they mentioned that they did not want their partners to be punished by the laws of the state8. Based on the Statues 800.04 (6a) and 800.04 (a) (b), the young boys had committed a statutory rape case since in both instances, their girlfriends were less than 16 years of age. Based on the girl’s responses and arguments in the court hearing, it could have been vividly stated that these girls were mature enough to make the decision to engage in sexual activity or not. Despite that, according to the Florida statutory legislative laws, their boyfriends had objected two statute laws whose punishments depending on the judge’s judgement could range from an imprisonment not exceeding 5 years or 15 years or even a life imprisonment depending o the degree of the case9. Based on the ideology that the girls were arguing from, they revealed that that was their decision and they had the right to do so since they had not been coerced or forced to do so. The judge in that sense dismissed their cases with the notion that the legislative law was in one sense or another violating the confidentiality rights of these minors. This decision was based on a confliction in a rape law that was enacted in 1990 by the Supreme Court in the state where minors were provided with the same rights as adults. How the state’s judicial arm acted Based on the above case of two 15 year old girls who engaged in sexual activities with their boyfriends who were 19 and 20 years, the Circuit judge made a decision ruling against the Florida State legislative laws by ascertaining that the case was void. This was based on the notion that a previous ruling by the Supreme Court in Florida in 1990 allowed minors to have the capability to make their own decisions regarding their sexual activities as well as abortion rights. However, intervention was only undertaken when required by either of the individuals involved. Apparently, this was just one case that had managed to successfully challenge the Florida Statutes 800. Other cases that have failed to succeed in the challenge of the Florida Statute Chapter 800 laws include the case against 21 year old Frederick Farrington who was accused of engaging in sexual activities against two younger girls both aged 15. In this case the judge’s final decision was that the man had violated the statutory rape laws and was prone to be prosecuted10. In this instance, it should be noted that these girls did not mention that it was their decision to engage in the act as compared to the initial case that was ruled by Circuit Judge Lockett. These girls mentioned that it is them who wanted the ordeal and thus their boyfriends were not to be punished for that. Based on that perspective, Circuit Judge Lockett released the case. However, in the case against 21 year old Frederick Farrington, the “statutory raped” girls did not bring up this perspective to their hearing. Hence, the Circuit judge ruled out that the 21 year old violated the Florida statutory laws. How the state’s governor acted According to a survey that was conducted by the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence (NIPSV) with the aim of recording the number of rape cases in the U.S. as well as other states. It was noted that approximately 1 in every 5 women (18.3%) and 1 in every 71 males (1.4%) had been raped (forced penetration, attempted penetration and drug related facilitated penetration) at one point in their lives11. Based on these trends, the state governor together with other legislators sought to find a solution to this problem by vindicating tough rules and prosecutions for anybody who was caught in the act of sexual activities with a minor. Some of the legislations that were enforced by the state’s governor include12: a) The Jacob Wetterling Crimes against Children Act and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act: This Act was created so as to help the state’s law enforcement personnel to track any sexual offenders so as to bring them down to prosecution. b) Megan’s Law: This state law was an amendment of the Jacob Wetterling Crimes against Children Act and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act. It sought to register not only the names of the sexual acts offenders but it also sought to capture their photos and addresses and made this information available to the public through the internet as well as other forms of communication. c) The Adam Walsh Protection Act (AWA): This was a law that was enacted so as to track offenders as well as to provide these notifications to the U.S federal offices for further follow ups. Hence all states were required to implement this Act by 2010. How the media (formal or informal) framed the political and legal issues The media has been on the forefront with Florida’s statutory rape cases and laws relating to these cases as well as how they are being interpreted by its citizens. With regard to the Florida Statute statutory laws in Chapter 800, a lot of people still do not know much about what these laws mean and/ or how they should be interpreted as well as enforced. A good example is the case an 18 year old Indian River country teenager by the name of Kaitlyn Hunt who found herself charged with two counts of sexual activity felony against another girl in her school who was 14 years old. These counts included lewd and lascivious actions against a child in the age bracket of 12 to 14 years old. Apparently, the family of the 14 year old girl contacted the police and asked them to arrest Hunt based on “statutory rape”. Based on the reaction that Hunt’s family put up, it was noted that this case was propelled by the fact that they did not want their daughter to engage in a same sex relationship. Hunt’s family stated that if in the event that their daughter was not a girl, most probably the case would not have been followed upon. Based on that, there lies a lot of confusion about what exactly the statutory laws mean and how they should be enacted as such, the media is still advocating for changes to be amended to the Act so as to have a clear vision of what is to be prosecuted and what should not. In the end, the 14 year old girl mentioned that she was in the relationship voluntarily and that Hunt had not coerced or forced her to be in their relationship13. Factual/Legal Discussion Based on the class discussions and further reading assignments, it can be stated that statutory rape laws needs to be elaborated further and/ or amended by the legislative members. This is due to the reason that some cases do happen and there lacks better judgement to solve them. A good example is the case of Kaitlyn Hunt who engaged in a same sex relationship with a 14 year old girl who in the first place voluntarily accepted to be in the relationship with her. Through her decisions, the parents of the younger girl charged Hunt with two counts of sexual act felonies – these included lewd and lascivious actions against a child in the age bracket of 12 to 14 years old. In reality, the statutory rape laws do not cater for same sex relationships and that is why there was a huge confusion based on that. In addition to that, different states have different laws that relate to statutory rape cases. Other states have more severe prosecutions with up to life imprisonment and even death penalties if an offender is found guilty according to Florida’s state statutory laws discussed in Chapter 800. As such, the rate at which people understand these laws can be complex and even the justice system does not take any action to make it possible that each individual citizen has the understanding that they need about these laws. Hence, implementing justice in some instances such as the one for Kaitlyn Hunt can be difficult. Based on that, it can be stated that justice needs to be fair for all people regardless of their gender identification, ethnical background and other affiliations since the law identifies everybody as citizens. The law does not identify some people as super citizens and others as minor citizens. As such, these statutory laws need to be amended for the better good of the American justice system. Conclusion Statutory laws differ from state to state and some states have very extreme laws of offenders when prosecuted. There have been noted increases in the cases of sexual offenses and that is the reason why these laws can be extreme. As such, there have been a number of Acts that legislators have put in place to try and reduce on the rates of these cases. However, challenges exist with issues related to same sex relationships and the issue of whether the individual accepted voluntarily to be in the relationship or not. . The media has projected this aspect so as to expedite the rate at which amendments are undertaken but still time will elaborate on the fate of Florida’s statutory rape cases. Works cited ABC News. (May 2013). Florida Cheerleader Denies Felony Charge for Lesbian Relationship. Web. Retrieved from: http://abcnews.go.com/US/florida-cheerleader-denies-felony-charge-lesbian-relationship/story?id=19225512 Bonnar-Kidd, K. K. (2010). Sexual offender laws and prevention of sexual violence or recidivism. American journal of public health, 100(3), p. 412. The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence (NIPSV). (2010). Sexual violence survey. Web. Retrieved from: http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/sexualviolence/index.html New York Times. (July 1992). Judge in Florida Voids Statutory Rape Law. Web. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/25/us/judge-in-florida-voids-statutory-rape-law.html The Florida Senate. (2012). 2012 Florida Statutes. Web. Retrieved from: http://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2012/800.04 Orlando Sentinel. (August 1992). State Statutory Rape Law Survives A New Challenge. Web. Retrieved from: http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1992-08-15/news/9208150904_1_statutory-rape-law-state-statutory-circuit-judge U.S. Department of Justice. (August 2005). Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention: Statutory Rape Known to Law Enforcement. Web. Retrieved from: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/208803.pdf U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). (December, 2004). Statutory Rape: A Guide to State Laws and Reporting Requirements. Web. Retrieved from: http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/08/sr/statelaws/report.pdf Read More