Courts get tough on women who have sex with boys

[Thom Little]

Courts across America are cracking down on women, especially teachers, who have sex with under-age boys. In the past month at least seven women, four of them teachers, have been charged or sentenced.

The flurry of prosecutions follows the sex-abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church. Experts say that the trend reflects a growing recognition that sexual abuse of boys can be just as serious as that of girls.

However, the courts are reluctant to punish women as harshly as men convicted of similar crimes. Whereas male abusers of girls routinely receive sentences of 15 to 20 years, women often avoid jail.

“Many people in society feel boys should want sex and it’s not harmful, and girls should not want sex and it is harmful,” said Robert Shoop, a professor at Kansas State University and the author of Sexual Exploitation in Schools: How to Spot It and Stop It. “The reality is, in both cases it’s illegal, it’s harmful and it’s wrong.”


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1898507,00.html

[Loonman]

1. Good

Let's hear it for being treated equally under the law.