PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Kourany, Ronald F. C.
AU  - Hill, Renee Y.
AU  - Hollender, Marc H.
TI  - The Age of Sexual Consent
DP  - 1986 Jun 01
TA  - Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online
PG  - 171--176
VI  - 14
IP  - 2
4099  - http://jaapl.org/content/14/2/171.short
4100  - http://jaapl.org/content/14/2/171.full
SO  - J Am Acad Psychiatry Law1986 Jun 01; 14
AB  - In 1899 the age of sexual consent in some American jurisdictions was 9 years. It has ranged from 7 to 21 years and at present the range is from 11 to 18 years. The age selected seems to be an arbitrary matter, the product of legislative compromise. The age of sexual consent should not be so early that little protection is provided for a child. Conversely, it should not be so late that a man can be held for statutory rape when the “victim” is fully capable of informed consent and readily acquiesced to a proposal or even invited a sexual relationship.