The following editorial is from the opinion page of The Republican newspaper in Springfield. It reflects views of the newspaper’s leadership and not necessarily those of MassLive. Readers are invited to share their opinions by emailing to letters@repub.com.
Thirty-nine states found the resolve to make it a crime for adults in positions of authority – teachers, coaches, priests – to have sex with a 16- or 17-year-old.
Not Massachusetts. Here, devious adults are free to groom mid-teens for future sexual conquest, once they turn 16, with no consequences.
As a Sunday story by Investigations Editor Greta Jochem explained, people who exploit this loophole are protected from criminal charges because the age of consent in Massachusetts is 16.
Their actions prey on young people who for various reasons are not in a position to grant true consent. The biggest reason is a glaring power imbalance when the supposed adult is a respected teacher or athletic coach.
Readers of Jochem’s report heard from women who believe they were lured, wooed and coerced into sex experiences. The fact they went along or couldn’t stop it doesn’t mean they made free choices. “How could that possibly not be criminal in some way,” asked one of the women brought into a sexual relationship when she was 16. The House sponsor of the bill, Leigh Davis, D-Great Barrington, is blunt about what happens when a 16-year-old “agrees” to sex with an adult mentor, teacher or coach: “That’s not consent. It’s exploitation.”
Massachusetts is overdue in joining the more than three dozen states, as well as the District of Columbia, that make it a crime for people to have sex with young people over whom they hold sway. The legislation would not change the age of consent itself.
Laura Magnini, a Springfield attorney, told Jochem teens are drawn into sexual relationships more often than people might think.
Proposed bills before the Legislature are trying to make this predatory behavior a crime. When asked why earlier attempts to close the loophole have failed, one of the measure’s sponsors, state Sen. Joan Lovely, D-Salem, said that when it comes to child sexual abuse prevention bills, the topic is “deeply personal and difficult for many to talk about.”
We think she’s being too gracious. Commonsense measures like this stall out because Massachusetts lawmakers, nearly 70% of whom are men, are failing vulnerable young people.
They can show they’re listening by getting this protection in place.
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