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 A thought from CNN 
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I was watching the news the other day and there was a story about a young man being released from jail after serving time for a sexual crime. He was found guilty of having relations with a 15 year old when he was 17, which is illegal in the state of Georgia. His lawyer was giving an interview to the newsman and she said something that kind of struck me. She was saying that he didnt know the law and many other young adults do not either. I started thinking back to my high school years and remembered that must of my friends, including myself, really didn't understand the laws that pertained to our age group.

My question is did anyone have a special program or just a particular teacher that made sure you understood what was legal or not in their schools? In my school we did not have anything that clarified confussing laws and must of the students had no idea either.

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Zachary Beam


Thu Nov 01, 2007 12:23 pm
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Zachary,
I didn't have an type of program in my school that made these things clear either but I did have parents who did. I know that many students may not tell their parents everything but my parents investigated in order to know...I guess I was one of the lucky ones.

Also many people are under the impression that as long as you are not over the age of 18 it's okay. In Florida I know the rule is something like... if you are over the age of 24 you cannot have relations with someone UNDER the age of 16...I'm not sure about anything younger than 16 but I was always under the impression of the 18 year old rule.

I think it's sad that a case like this made it to court with only 2 years difference between 2 young people consenting in sexual relations.

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Nikki Ballance


Thu Nov 01, 2007 1:06 pm
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In High School we had what was then, ELP, but is now Civics and Economics. Thats the class where you learn about court cases and how the government works. Our teacher for that class was a really down to earth guy so we would start off each class with a current event that usually led to a discussion about some topic that we were interested in. A lot of the time we discussed what you could and couldn't do inside the school such as searching lockers and book bags and that sort of stuff. I don't remember really looking specifically at laws that pertain to that, but I am sure that if we had brought it up he would have explained it to the best of his knowledge.

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Matthew Ruff


Thu Nov 01, 2007 1:13 pm
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In response to Zach, I did not have a specific class, program, or teacher to inform us of laws that pertained to high school students. I never really thought about it until you posted it. And now, I am a bit angry about not being told these things then. Even though I now know I did not particularly need to know these laws to stay out of trouble, I could have needed to know then.

I had an ok ELPS (now ELP...I think) teacher my freshman year. ELPS was about our government, court cases, etc. The next year, I had a teacher new to our school for US History and she was AMAZING. I had not liked history until having her as a teacher. I feel thought that if I had had her as my ELPS teacher, we would have covered cases and laws that involved the legal age of consent. She was all about teaching us the truth about our history and government.

I am interested to see how many of us did get informed. And yes, Nikki, I also had parents that I could talk to about these issues. I am just surprised I did not get this information in high school too.

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JAKE BRADLEY ORANGE


Thu Nov 01, 2007 1:43 pm
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I did not have a class like that to tell me laws like that. I think there should be classes in every school that tell you about them. I think it is ridiculous that someone would go to jail over 2 years difference especially 15 and 17 years old. I feel sorry for that poor boy. Sometimes I think laws are just so stupid. So what is the law in North Carolina about that kind of stuff?

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Shannon Lynn


Thu Nov 01, 2007 4:31 pm
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Nikki,
I was more concerned about getting the information from a school stand point. My parents didn't have to tell me the laws because they raised me well enough to understand what is right and wrong, but there are students out there that do not have that good parental support to understand the laws and right from wrong. That is why there should be a day every year, like they do for sex ed classes in middle school, where students are brought into an assembly and issues concerning high school age students should be addressed.

Also, I had a great ELPS teacher in high school, but I do not feel like we covered court cases and laws that focus on our age group. We focused on the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, not laws about a teenagers rights.

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Zachary Beam


Thu Nov 01, 2007 9:06 pm
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I was never taught in school about laws pertaining to our age group. Like Zach, I just remember covering the basic things, like the Bill of Rights. I'm sure there are quite many teenagers that don't know the exact laws pertaining to their age group. I also found it ridiculous that the 17 year old went to jail for having relations with a 15 year old. They were only two years apart! I think there are some laws that go a little too far in certain circumstances, such as this one.

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Melanie Wright


Thu Nov 01, 2007 9:17 pm
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I also didn't have the experience of a class or a special assembly informing me of the laws that pertain to my age group. Now that I think about it, I agree with the idea that there should be some sort of class or assembly that teaches students about laws pertaining to their age group because when being tried in court, one can't use the excuse "well, I didn't know it was a law."

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~Victoria Hayes


Sat Nov 03, 2007 4:06 pm
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Victoria brought up a great point in that, when in court, one cannot use the excuse "well, I didn't know it was the law. It's rediculous to think that teenagers already know the laws pertaining to them. I think a class that introduces and defines these laws would be very beneficial for today's youth by persuading them to think before they act.

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Jonathan Chase Weaver


Sun Nov 04, 2007 12:29 pm
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We didn't have any program in our school and I found out about the laws when a fellow student who was 18 went to jail for having sexual relations with his then 15 year old girlfriend. I didn't realize the consequences and many of my friends didn't either until we saw what happened to this person.

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Stephen Wood


Sun Nov 04, 2007 3:18 pm
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I wish schools would have a class that would give students a better understanding of laws and in particular ones that apply to teenagers. I did not have a class that informed me of laws that could affect me. There are some many laws being passed that it would be a hard class to get organized but at the same time it would always be interesting. this would be a great way to have debates!! They can debate if the laws are beneficial or not!


Mon Nov 05, 2007 10:11 am
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I think having a section of a class, maybe ELPS, to teach the laws that apply to high school students would be a great idea. Students need to know what applies to them and what does not. Even the new laws that are being passed about driving (Cell phone usage) are most often not known by the people they affect most. I really think it would help to have some sort of new law education for high school students.

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Adam Ray Wyatt


Mon Nov 05, 2007 10:21 am
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I definitely had a talk in high school that was all about the basic definitions of rape. It was covered in my freshman gym class and the unit was actually really helpful. They laid out the definitions of statutory rape, date rape, and the age of consent in NC. We even went over some gray area scenarios about how people should handle themselves. I think it was completely appropriate to cover those issues in freshman gym because it was right when we were all 14 or 15 and about to be the age of consent for sex in NC. I and my friends even joked when we all turned 16 that we were legal, so I was pretty informed on the issue. I don't know about people outside of my friends but everyone seemed to be pretty abreast of the consent laws. In terms of other laws, we were pretty knowledgeable of the driving laws with the 6 month no driving after nine thing, but not really.


Tue Nov 06, 2007 11:39 am
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I know what story you're talking about Zach and they have since changed the law in Georgia. Sure, there are still laws like this around that people in the age range aren't aware of in plenty of states. I do agree that there should be a section of some class in high school that tells students what laws are on the books however outdated they may be, so at least they know where some behaviors could get them in trouble. I think more than the surface treatment there were some other underlying issues. Much like the allegations of the Jena6, there may have been racial underpinnings. A successful black youth that had alright grades and great athletic ability was an easy target for a conservative southern community. The part that baffles me is that there were other people involved that got off with lesser punishments. The evidence plainly laid out the events and levels of involvement, but it seems an example was being made.

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Chris Walz


Thu Nov 08, 2007 1:15 pm
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