UNITED STATES
Minnesota Public Radio
[with audio]
NPR Staff Nov 16, 2014
Protecting young people from sexual predators would seem to be a universally-held value in this country: No state has an age of consent lower than 16.
But in some courtrooms, attorneys argue that children can make decisions about whom they have sex with — and in some cases, those attorneys are winning.
One of those cases is currently under appeal in California. In 2010, a 28-year old middle-school math teacher began a six-month sexual relationship with a 14-year-old female student at his school.
The teacher was convicted in criminal court of lewd acts with a child, and he went to prison. The girl’s family then sued the LA Unified School District in a civil case.
Investigative reporter Karen Foshay pored over court documents and looked at the school district’s line of defense. This past week, she broke the story for NPR member station KPCC. Foshay tells NPR’s Arun Rath that she was amazed by how the school district defended itself in court.
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