Statutory Rape: A Significant Factor in
Adolescent Pregnancy and Health

by Kate Sylvester

In 1996, federal welfare reform legislation included a curious mandate to the states: Address the issue of statutory rape. The mandate reflected a growing consensus—based on new research and the wisdom of front-line practitioners—that adult men, not teen boys, were responsible for a significant percentage of births to teen girls. Although adult-minor sexual relations are against the law in every state, the enforcement of these laws had become a rare event in U.S. courtrooms.

Because young unwed mothers are the most likely of all welfare families to become long-term welfare recipients, ignoring these men’s crimes has proven to be an expensive miscarriage of justice.

How many young mothers are impregnated by adult males? In 1995, the Alan Guttmacher Institute reported that among teen mothers ages 15-17 age range, 49.2 percent had babies fathered by men between ages 20 and 29. 1 And as a rule, the oldest men victimize the youngest teens.

A look into the life circumstances of some girls helps explain these troubling statistics. Researchers at the Ounce of Prevention Fund found that more than 60 percent of the teen mothers they surveyed had been forced into an unwanted sexual experience as children, and that more than 45 percent had been abused by family members. The mean age of the first incidence of sexual abuse was 11.5 years. 2

According to Dr. Judith Musick, an expert on teen pregnancy, sexual abuse is “a form of brainwashing” that conditions young girls “to not believe they have a right to control their own bodies.” 3 Thus the young girls who are abused as children are conditioned to “consent” to the advances of older men, men who promise attention, gifts, rides in cars, or an escape from a troubled home life.

These relationships are exploitative and harmful for young girls, regardless of whether they become pregnant. These relationships subject young women to physical and emotional abuse; isolation from peer groups and support networks; and dangerous exposure to substance abuse and sexually transmitted diseases.

Men in their twenties (the age of most perpetrators) have sexual intercourse more often and use condoms less often than do teen boys. 4 Accordingly, medical reports from 2000-2001 indicate that the rate of HIV infection among teen girls is rising, 5 despite falling rates for heterosexual teen boys and adult women. 6 These statistics are confirming practitioners’ belief that adult-teen sexual encounters are anything but harmless sex. 7

What have states done to combat this problem? In general, they have focused on three strategies: public awareness, practitioner training, and reinvigorated prosecution. In the most successful efforts, states have used a combination of these three strategies.

Public awareness is the most common state response to the TANF mandate. California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Nebraska have enacted new laws or programs to discourage coercive sexual relationships between older men and teenage girls. Often done in conjunction with sex education or teen pregnancy prevention efforts, the campaigns have featured such approaches as billboards; radio and television ads; posters; videos; and flashcards. In addition to making teens aware of their rights and protections, raising public awareness helps build community consensus about the seriousness of the problem.

A second approach is providing training and education for the people who work with teens about why these relationships are harmful and what they can do to help. As a general rule, mandatory reporters of child abuse are also responsible for notifying authorities about statutory rape incidents. Training law enforcement personnel, health care providers, and welfare and social workers about the problem means that practitioners are less hesitant to report cases and intervene on behalf of their clients and prosecution rates are rising. What’s more, prosecutors are benefiting from the knowledge of caregivers when deciding what follow-up steps are appropriate to help young women recover from their exploitation.

Reinvigorated prosecution is the third strategy that states—most notably California—are using. That state has implemented a Statutory Rape Vertical Prosecution program in all but three of its 58 counties. The vertical prosecution system is based on the model used in child abuse cases, keeping the same prosecutor attached to a case throughout the process and relying on victim support services. The program achieved nearly 4,000 convictions in three years; aspects of the program have become models for other states.

In the states and communities where public officials have heeded the TANF mandate and tried to address the problem, these officials have found that the problem is egregious—the age gaps are significant and the relationships are coercive and harmful. They have also learned that by combining the strategies of public awareness, practitioner training, and reinvigorated prosecution, they can achieve some measure of success in combating this serious social problem. It is time for Michigan lawmakers to join these efforts. Since 1997, Cass County prosecutor Scott Teter has urged them to do so. It is time for them to do so.

Kate Sylvester is the executive director of Social Policy Action Network, a think-tank in Washington, D.C.

1. D.J. Landry and J.D. Forrest, “How Old Are U.S. Fathers?,” 22(4) Family Planning Perspectives 159, July/Aug. 1995.

2. Child Sexual Abuse: A Hidden Factor in Adolescent Sexual Behavior. Findings from a Statewide Survey of Teenage Mothers in Illinois. An Ounce of Prevention Study. Chicago, Illinois: The Ounce of Prevention Fund, 1986.

3. J. Musick, quoted in report on September 16, 1994 symposium on teen pregnancy and childbearing and the role of the federal government, in PRC FOCUS, newsletter of the Population Resource Center (Winter 1995)

4. Freya Sonenstein, ed. “Young Men’s Sexual and Reproductive Health: Towards a National Strategy” (Washington DC: Urban Institute, 2000): 19.

5. Sonenstein, Urban Institute 2000.

6. Suzanne Rostler, “HIV From Heterosexual Sex Soars Among Teen Girls”, Reuters Health, 20 July 2001.

7. see also Gary W. Harper, Audrey K. Bangi, and Richard Contreras, “Age Matters for Adolescent Females: Sexual Relationships With Older Men Present Risks for HIV”, Psychology and AIDS, American Psychological Association, Issue 29 (Spring 2001).