Letter to Editor,

[Valigator]

they called last night with permission to print, we will see...you know my particular stand on this stuff...hope you like it...

To our educators and parents,
To all of our dismay, sexual crimes are becoming more prevalent by younger and younger offenders. It is no secret our kids are becoming sexually interactive at an earlier age than our parents. You can blame this on a myriad of problems, but it is, what it is, and I don’t see it changing anytime soon. Along with this new found sexual exploration, we are seeing a total lack of respect for other person’s physical boundaries. I find that sexual crimes in our society are still considered a nasty topic, so we leave it at “good touch, bad touch” conversations with our young people. Reminiscent of the old “just say no to drugs” of the eighties. The success rate of that little ditty is still debatable. With the much needed passage of stricter laws concerning sex crimes, we still need to focus on prevention. I think we all know our children form their moral and ethical compasses earlier than previously thought. If as they say, “education is the key to solutions to many problems” well I say start educating. Do your children actually know what “age of consent means”? Or do they just know what age they can be served a drink? Its time Florida schools and parents get down and dirty on the subject of what constitutes a sex crime in Florida and the repercussions of them. If your going to spend dollars on the perils of drinking and driving, sexually transmitted diseases, and of course the “just say no” campaigns, I highly suggest you spend some time and effort on teaching your children to respect another human beings sexual boundaries.

[8X56MS]

I would not have a problem with the age of consent being lowered. Things are a lot different through out society, than when the current laws were put into place.

I do agree that parents need to be a lot more aware of what their kids are doing though. Most don't seem to have a clue as to what level of sexual activity their kids are involved with.

MTV, video games, movies, TV, books and just society in general encourages sexual exploration at earlier and earlier ages. Just visit your local mall, and watch the parade of "ProstiTots" as they sashay around in little groups.

[fabsroman]

Very good article Val.

As far as the age of consent being lowered, I think it is pretty good where it is right now. In Maryland, the age of consent is 16.

If the person is 14 or 15, the other person must be younger than 21. If the person is younger than 14, the other person must be within 4 years of that. I think it is bad enough that a 16 year old can have a "consensual relationship" with a 12 year old, but that is just me. Then again, a 20 year old can have a consensual relationship with a 14 year old.