Behind Bars
How Having Sex May Be Illegal

Illustration by Crystal Jordan | VOX Staff

By Courtnee Miles
VOX Staff

At the tender age of 15, my friend Michael* has already had sex with more girls than he can remember. Shocking, right? Although he uses condoms to protect both himself and his partners against unwanted pregnancy and STD’s, that’s still not enough. What he doesn’t know is that he and/or those girls could be arrested for breaking the law.

Introducing the Law
The legal age of consent in Georgia is 16. So, anyone who’s 16 can have sex with anyone that age or older. But, having sex with someone who is 14 or 15 is considered statutory rape, even if both partners are the same age and agree to have sex. Having sex with anyone under 14 or oral sex with anyone under 13 is considered child molestation.

These laws were made in 1995 to punish and deter pedophiles (adults who are sexually attracted to children). However, they can get teens into unexpected trouble.

Who Has Been A Victim?
Several unsuspecting teens have already been jailed for crimes they had no clue they were committing, like Genarlow Wilson. He was a 17-year-old senior, an honor student, and a football and track star at Douglas County High School. On December 31, 2003, he and several friends were videotaped having consensual sex with a 17-year-old girl and oral sex with a 15-year-old girl at a New Year’s Eve party. Because teen sex laws were even more strict back then, Wilson was convicted of felony aggravated child molestation and given the then mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.

While Wilson was behind bars, in 2006, state laws were changed. Now, under the new “Romeo and Juliet” clause, as long as both partners are between 14 and 18, having consensual sex would be considered a misdemeanor, not a felony. (That means that there is less punishment, but a misdemeanor could still leave a permanent criminal record.) The same law applies to oral sex for teens between 13 and 18, as long as they are no more than four years apart in age. The punishment for both crimes is now up to a year in prison. (It once was a sentence of 10 years or more.)

Wilson served close to three years in prison before a jury decided last fall that his punishment was unjust. He was freed on October 26. His lawyer, B.J. Bernstein, says Wilson now wants to be an ambassador to today’s youth and teach teens about sex and its lesser-known consequences.

How Should Teens Be Informed?
Many teens think that schools should be responsible for teaching teens about sex laws that affect them.
“A lot of teenagers don’t know a lot about sex because they aren’t taught about it enough,” said Crystal Jordan, 17, a senior at Douglass High School.

Current teen sex laws are partly based on old-fashioned beliefs that sex should be taboo, which is clearly not what many of today’s teens think.

Terra Olgelsby, 17, a senior at Douglass High, says, “Sex is everywhere nowadays.”

Should Parents Do More?
Some teens believe that parents should teach their kids about the consequences of sex because schools aren’t.

“My parents did not tell me anything about sex. I learned it all from experience,” says Brian Robbins, 18, at Douglass High School.

Kellie Jordan, 19, said that parents can teach teens more about sex since they’ve experienced more. But they can’t tell their kids about Georgia teen sex laws because the laws have changed. And many parents may not know about the new laws.

Courtnee is a senior at Douglass High. She is addicted to shoes and handbags.

* Name Changed