Quote:
Originally Posted by Nehkara
Look, the kid should be punished and he is obviously responsible for the incident.
If he had actually raped the girl I might feel the same way you do but, 12 years old or not, it sounds like she was a willing participant.
I realize that a 12 year old cannot consent and that is why he should be punished but that doesn't mean what he did was the same as violently raping her.
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This bears repeating: He
did rape her. At 12 years old, she can't give consent. If they have sex, it's rape.
I'm not going to wring my hands over the Young Offenders' Act. Both parties in this situation are children, and I think a 16 year old is pretty close to being a child. There is, however, a huge physical difference between a 16-year old and a 12-year old--and that's what disturbs me here. Obviously the 12-year old should not have been meeting up with older boys on the internet, if that's indeed what happened. But a 16-year old boy who wants to have sex with a 12-year old is in need of some serious help. A justice system that just threw the book at him would just be compounding the tragedy. He needs help--and serious help--not a life sentence.
And yes, I'll echo what others have said: 12 is indeed THAT young. A 16 year old is a teenager, in the midst of puberty, and growing into an adult body. A 12 year old is a
child, in a child's body.