WI- Out of the Shadows, Part 4: Confronting sex crimes in our community

6-25-2009 Wisconsin:

Age of Consent: Laws on teen relationships contradictory, confusing

With love can come criminal consequences.

In Wisconsin, 17-year-olds are tried as adults in the court system. If a 17-year-old is in a sexual relationship with someone under the age of 16, he or she not only could spend time behind bars but also be labeled as a sex offender for life.

“Those cases are very difficult,” said Fond du Lac County District Attorney Dan Kaminsky. “Certainly, I have a personal opinion on things as well as most of the attorneys have opinions on it. Yes, it seems there are some times where it is fully consensual.”

Kaminsky said if a 17-year-old boy has sex with a 15-year-old girl, he could be charged with a felony even though if the boy were the victim, he would be considered a child.

“The law is inconsistent and needs to be revised,” Kaminsky said. “If you have two 17-year-olds who have sex, both are child victims by definition in the law and both are adult perpetrators at the very same time.”

Kaminsky said attorneys do think about labeling a teenager as a sex offender when a “high school romance” with someone younger than 16 shows no signs of force.

“A lot of people are uncomfortable with that, as am I,” Kaminsky said. “Usually the case has to be charged. We really don’t necessarily have the option to disregard the law. We can offer deferred prosecution agreements in resolving the case. Especially with somebody that is a first offense, they can avoid that label. This is exactly why deferred prosecution agreements are important because it gives us the option to address these circumstances where it really is unfair.”

Kaminsky added that, even though it is unique, there are cases that emerge in which both participants appear mature enough to understand what they are doing.

“The sex offender is the idea that someone is a threat and we need to warn society about them,” Kaminsky said.

Range of offenders

When the age between participants grows, so should the concern, said Nichole Hall, Wisconsin Department of Corrections sex offender registry specialist for Fond du Lac and Winnebago counties.

Hall said there is a “large continuum of sex offenders.” Offenders range from child pedophiles to those that participate in cooperative sexual activities that are not allowed by law.

“As those ages spread further apart, I think so does the seriousness of the offense,” Hall said. “To really lock all those people up and throw away the key — I don’t really know if people are thinking about that sex offenders vary in their crimes, their risk and their danger they present to the public.”

Hall added that courts can remove some people from the registry if the offender is 18 or younger and the victim is 12 or older and there is no force or threat of force and no more than four years between the two.

Linda Selk-Yerges, director of Assist Survivors Treatment Outreach Prevention Inc. (ASTOP), said the potential of labeling someone as a sex offender may hinder investigations.

“It’s such a gray area,” Selk-Yerges said. “Because of that, sometimes I feel it makes law enforcement back off a little bit more because they think about this person will have to be a registered sex offender.”

Wisconsin law allows 16-year-olds to consent to sexual contact. However, teenagers cannot consent to activity that involves insertion of body parts until they turn 18.

Kaminsky said if the child participant is over 16, the sex offender registry is no longer a concern if the sex acts were not forced.

The crime is called sexual intercourse with a child 16 or older. It is a Class A misdemeanor that carries a maximum sentence of nine months in jail and a fine up to $10,000.

“That’s only a misdemeanor,” Kaminsky said. “Those get charged almost every time.”

Investigating assaults

Not all reports of potential sexual assault will make it to a district attorney’s desk.

Lt. Bill Flood, head of the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Department’s detective bureau, said parents or the alleged victim do report, but most cases start with mandatory reporters.

“In the school setting, there are mandatory reporters — teachers, counselors, people of that nature,” Flood said. “… They will report these situations if they feel there is enough reason to believe the two are sexually active.”

Flood said some variables detectives look for are: pregnancy, transmission of diseases, use of force or threats, and incapacitation due to drugs or alcohol.

He noted that most parents are supportive if there is a pregnancy in a relationship that may not be legal by Wisconsin law.

Flood said officers use discretion when handling cases in which the age difference is not great.

“What we do is look at these cases individually. If we have two high school-age people that are sexually active, we feel these are more private matters and perhaps family and parental issues than they are a law enforcement issue,” Flood said.

Flood added that laws are not necessarily looking at the 18-year-old and 16-year-old sophomore and senior. The laws had to have age limitations to structure each degree, he said.

Flood said investigators approach every case seriously, but will back off of some cases involving teenagers.

“If, in fact, we handled every one of those cases that ever get disclosed or we ever see, we would be very, very busy, and you are also running the risk of labeling these kids — if you will — as potential sex offenders that would potentially need to register for the rest of their life,” Flood said. “Is that the spirit in which these laws were constructed? I don’t think so.” ..Source.. by Russ Plummer • The Reporter