I guess. I don't know that that's very high on the priority list of what needs to get done though. I doubt there's a lot of 40 year olds marrying 16 years olds out there.

 

Marrying? No, but wanting to bang them? Sure. Or is there a different age standard for marriage than for consensual sex outside of marriage?

Without googling it at work, yes, I think there is in at least some states. e.g. age of consent might be 18 in the state, but you can get married with parental consent as young as 16 and then that'd override the normal age of consent.

I think it's more likely than not that they are being exploited, but I remember 16-17 year old girls in my high school who acted 30. They knew exactly what they were doing and why. Could I imagine a scenario where one of those girls would accept tens of thousands for one night? Yep. Doesn't mean it's right, but I think they're less of a victim than 9 year olds. They, most likely, at least had a say in the matter.

 

You do realize that YOU felt this way because you yourself were their age and had no clue what you were doing??

 

It's pretty obvious for anyone that has ever had any interaction ever with any 16-17 year-old that they are not fully developed mentally, socially, emotionally etc. enough to make any kind of decision like that, whether they think they know what they are doing or not.

 

Doesn't matter if you think they're less of a victim than a toddler. Still a victim nonetheless.

Is pedophilia just something you are born with?

 

It's an interesting question. While there is far from any known, conclusive cause just yet, researchers do see pretty good evidence that the primary causes are genetic/prenatal. It is generally thought that pedophiles cannot change their desires towards pre-pubescent children. After years of failure in these conversion therapies, now treatment focuses mainly on stopping offending.

 

It is also worth mentioning that not all child molesters are pedophiles. Pedophiles have a near-exclusive or exclusive attraction to pre-pubescent children. Other child molesters may act for very different reasons.

Sentenced to 15 years, 8 months.

Not life?

Not life?

 

I don't think he was eligible for that. Sentencing guidelines for what he did are more lenient than they should be.

Didn't he have a plea deal that capped his sentence? I thought the range was 5-15.