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.
"They said, 'We're not negligent here, we didn't know about this,'" Foshay says. And they also said that the 14-year-old girl was at fault because she consented to the sex.
Attorney Keith Wyatt, who was representing LA Unified in the case, made that argument in court — and reiterated it in an interview with Foshay.
"She lied to her mother so she could have an opportunity to have sex with her teacher ... she went to a motel in which she engaged in voluntary consensual sex with her teacher," Wyatt said to Foshay. "Why shouldn't she be responsible for that?"
Under criminal law in California, the age of consent is 18 years old. But in a civil case, Foshay says, there have been two rulings that say minors can consent to sex.
[For more of this story go to http://www.npr.org/2014/11/16/...amp;utm_campaign=app]
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