There is no separate crime entitled “statutory rape” in Texas. Instead, the prohibition against an adult having sexual contact with a child is governed by both the aggravated sexual assault and the sexual assault statute.
The concept of statutory rape is that even though both parties consent to sexual contact, it is nevertheless illegal. The justification is that society seeks to prohibit certain ages from engaging in sexual contact. For example, it is a crime for any child under the age of 14 to engage in genital sexual contact – period. (However, there are serious concerns about selective enforcement based upon gender—boys are prosecuted and girls aren’t).
Similarly, there is a three year window on high school romance; given the average ages difference in high school, the Legislature believes that high school seniors should not be dating high school freshmen. It works the same on the back end, too: while it is acceptable for a freshman in college to continue dating the girl back in high school, if he’s old enough to drink then he’ll find himself facing a sexual assault charge.
Most people are often incredulous that these types of cases are prosecuted. Understand that the police are often called in the following situations:
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The Romeo & Juliet where the teenagers are in love but the families hate each other;
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The family of the girl detests the older boy and believes he is taking advantage of the love-struck girl;
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Somebody gets pregnant;
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Somebody gets arrested for something else (marijuana) and the police who otherwise wouldn’t get involved have an obligation to investigate and make an arrest;
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The families ignore the age difference when the kids are happy, but things change after the breakup; or
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Although the age difference is barely over three years, there is a much greater difference in the emotional maturity of the parties.
The most frightening consequence is that this offense does require a person to register as a sex offender for life if convicted. While there is a limited ability for certain people to avoid registration, it is no guarantee.
These types of cases often involve strong feelings on both sides and benefit greatly from Defense Initiated Victim Outreach.
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