“CONSENTING” ADULTS?
A student-teacher sex scandal at a North Carolina high school has prompted us to reiterate one of our more controversial editorial perspectives.
First, the facts of the case …
Erin Elizabeth McAuliffe, 25, was arrested in Rocky Mount, N.C. last week and charged with multiple counts of sexual activity with students. According to local police, the first-year teacher at Rocky Mount Preparatory School engaged in inappropriate sexual contact with three high school boys.
Hired at the government-run charter school ten months ago (her first full-time teaching gig), McAuliffe found herself under investigation in May when administrative staff at the school informed police of their suspicions.
She was removed from the school on May 4 and fired from her job four days later. Now she’s facing criminal charges – and up to five years in prison if she is convicted of them.
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(Via: Facebook)
According to police, two of the students involved in this case are 17 years old while the third is 16 years old. For those of you keeping score at home, North Carolina’s age of consent law is sixteen – meaning McAuliffe wouldn’t be facing criminal charges in this matter were she not a schoolteacher.
For us, this is familiar ground …
This website has stated repeatedly that teachers who engage in illicit sexual relationships with students should lose their jobs. That’s obvious. Beyond that, though, we don’t think government shouldn’t spend tax dollars prosecuting and incarcerating people for consensual sex.
Why not?
Because consensual sex isn’t illegal.
Schools should absolutely adopt zero tolerance policies when it comes to consensual sex between teachers and students – and we believe teachers who have sex with their students should never be allowed in the classroom again.
But if we as a society wish to throw these teachers in jail in addition to these professional consequences, then we should change the age of consent law.
Should teachers be criminally prosecuted for having sex with students who have attained the age of consent?
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