Canadian Supreme Court says no legal error in acquitting woman who had sex with 14-year-old boy - Politics

girlwriteswhat · 2017-07-08T18:01:58+00:00

The issue here is what does the law say?

The law says that an adult must take reasonable steps to ascertain that a sexual partner is above the age of consent. I would suggest that the judge was shown photos of the kid at the age in which the sex happened, and would have taken into account the woman's reasonable belief that he was over 16.

The fact that the sex was "factually consensual" (that both parties willingly engaged in it) reduces the question to one of a statutory nature, intent and reasonableness.

The question becomes, "Would a reasonable person, looking at this child and observing his behavior, have a legal obligation to take further measures to determine he is not below the age of consent?"

So let's look at another scenario: Guy meets girl in the line-up at a night club, where only people over 18 are admitted. The doorman waves them both inside. They order drinks, and neither are carded by the bartender. Later that evening, they have sex. It turns out, she was 15--below the age of consent.

Should he be convicted of statutory rape? He met her in an adult setting. Other people in that adult setting did not suspect she was underage. At no time did she inform him that she was underage. She behaved as if she were a young adult. Did this guy have a further legal obligation to ascertain that this child was of legal age to consent?

This is a young woman who appeared on posters and narrated portions of the documentary "Are All Men Pedophiles?"

When she participated in this movie, she was 14. I watched the movie, and nothing in her delivery or posture in the film would indicate to me that she was that young. Would I be legally obligated, under a "reasonable person" standard, to take further measures to ascertain she was above the age of 16 if I had met her at a party and she had consensual sex with me?

Would, for instance, a reasonable person feel that they had to see her ID before making a judgement that she is 16 or older?

It seems that the entire verdict seemed to hinge on THAT: statutory rape in Canada is not a strict liability offence (nor should it be). What reasonable steps one must take to determine if someone is of legal age will depend on a whole host of factors, including the setting, the person's behavior, and what they look like.

In Canada, there are generally posters at the counter that say when purchasing cigarettes or alcohol is that if a consumer doesn't appear to be at least 26 are going to be IDed (legal age is either 18 or 19, depending on province). I have been IDed under those conditions four times in the last two years, and I'm 46 with visible grey in my hair.

This is how subjective trying to ascertain someone's age just by looking is. Do we hold people who are not under a duty of care and high legal burden (such as sellers of tobacco and alcohol) to such rigorous standards when it comes to unregulated and unlicensed interpersonal interactions like sex? Or to put it another way: does a private citizen making a decision to have sex with another private citizen face a similar legal burden in determining someone is above the age of consent as, say, a porn producer does when hiring actors?

I guess what I'm saying here is, the argument that this is a pussy pass is not as clear cut as it might be. She did not get off solely because she's a woman, but because the judge deemed that her belief, based on the circumstances in this case, that the complainant was at least 16 was reasonable.

That's a matter of law.

If there is a case out there where the sexes are reversed in which the judge made a different decision as to what is reasonable and convicted, then we have a double standard. But that doesn't necessarily mean that this acquittal is unjust. It would mean that the guy's conviction is the injustice.

thrway_1000 · 2017-07-08T16:58:46+00:00

https://archive.is/veoSe

Title	Canadian Supreme Court says no legal error in acquitting woman who had sex with 14-year-old boy - Politics
Author	mork
Upvotes	25
Comments	7
Date	July 8, 2017 4:22 PM UTC (9 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/6m1url/canadian_supreme_court_says_no_legal_error_in/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/canadian-supreme-court-says-no-legal-error-in.918572 https://theredarchive.com/post/918572

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