To: The Ohio State House, The Ohio State Senate, and Governor Mike DeWine
One Law, One Limit
We need to bring our State's statutes into line with each other and better protect our children against abuse and exploitation. Sexual contact between teens of a few years age difference is a far different concern than the abuse of authority and trust that occurs when an Adult engages in sexual contact with a child older than 16 but younger than 18. The current laws contain a loophole that allows Adult Sexual Predators to coerce or seduce children over the age of 16 into sexual acts. Raise the legal age of sexual consent to 18 years of age in line with the Age of Legal Majority and the age designated on the existing pornography laws to eliminate conflicts and confusion both for law enforcement and the citizens of the State. If you are not old enough to engage in actions that might result in your getting cancer before the age of 18 - such as the purchase of tobacco, then you should not be able legally to make the life-altering decision to have sex. Sign on to better protect our Children and enable Law Enforcement to better protect our Citizens.
Why is this important?
If your child is coerced or seduced by an Adult Sexual Predator into agreeing to have sex, the current legal statutes leave you no legal means to address the issue The statutes on sexual contact with minors in Ohio designate that it is legal for a child age 16 or older to agree to have sexual intercourse. While it is illegal in Ohio for people under the age of 18 to purchase tobacco or to vote and, a person needs to be 21 to purchase alcohol, and photos or videos of naked people of either sex under the age of 18 are designated "child pornography"....Yet, the age of sexual consent in Ohio is 16 years of age with no qualifying statements regarding the age difference of the participants. Sex between 16 year olds is a far different social issue than sexual contact between an older Adult of more than 5 years of age difference and a more than 16 but still under 18 year old teen. This leads to not only confusion and distress on the part of Teens and their Parents, it complicates legal proceedings unnecessarily. If your child is coerced or seduced by an Adult Sexual Predator into agreeing to have sex, the current legal statutes leave you no legal means to address the issue.