The Effect of Statutory Rape Laws on Teen Birth Rates

Frakes, Michael D.; Harding, Matthew

doi:10.1093/aler/ahv013

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 43 publications

(30 reference statements)

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“…The estimated impacts are consistent with previous evidence on the effect of such legislation in the US (Frakes and Harding 2015) and perhaps surprisingly, fairly consistent across countries. Evidence from Wolfe et al (2007), Kearney and Levine (2012b) and Kearney and Levine (2014) also suggests that much variation in teen fertility seems driven by conscious reactions, often to economic opportunities.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…The paper relates to the evaluation of criminal legislation for sexual crimes, for which there is relatively little evidence overall.Directly related to age of consent and statutory rape legislation, Jepsen and Jepsen (2006) and Henry and Cunningham (2009) provide US evidence of a negative correlation between statutory rape laws and teen births and age of consent laws and age of first sexual activity, respectively. More closely related to this paper, Frakes and Harding (2015) pool and analyze over 20 changes in age of consent and statutory rape laws across US states over several decades, including the 1995 Georgia age of consent increase, and present aggregate evidence that these laws decrease teen fertility, although little evidence of an effect for increasing punishment severity. I contribute to this literature first by providing the first formal evidence for Canada, for which we may expect such legislation to potentially have very different effects considering its much lower rates of teen birth and marriage as well as differences in context and legislation (McKay 2006, Kearney and Levine 2012b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Do age of consent laws decrease teen births?

Lepage

2022

Canadian J of Economics

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This paper studies two legislative changes that extended legal penalties for sex with minors ages 14 to 16 in Canada and the US. Using differences‐in‐differences and triple‐differences strategies, it presents new evidence that age of consent laws affect teen fertility, especially the rate that teenage girls aged 14 to 15 become pregnant and have children from adult men of ages targeted by the law changes. I find that the 2008 increase in Canada and the 1995 increase in the American state of Georgia led to substantial decreases in the fraction of births arising from partnerships made illegal. These impacts reflect net decreases in births and falling abortions rather than changes in reporting, implying decreased pregnancy rates. Further evidence suggests that the laws deterred relationships between teens and targeted partners altogether and I also uncover a strong response to the law through marriage of teens aged 14 to 15 in Georgia, which then provided a loophole because age of consent laws did not apply to married couples.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do age of consent laws decrease teen births?

Lepage

2022

Canadian J of Economics

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“…As there is no research to date to substantiate that a cut-off of 21 years of age correctly captures important distinguishing case characteristics (e.g., victim risk, perceived coercion), it is unclear which state laws—those creating a cut-off or those without one—are functioning as intended. The data showing that over half of statutory rape offenders may be 21 and younger raise such questions (Cohen, 2009; Frakes & Harding, 2015; High, 2016; Robinson & Williams, 2017) as well as raise the question of why research has yet to ask questions about a 21-year-of-age divide. To the best of our knowledge, research has yet to examine any presumption of less harm (coercion and other risks) coming to adolescent victims involved with offenders younger than 21 versus older or to speak to whether we need to worry that states’ statutory rape laws vary with regard to whether and where they draw their offender age lines (Glosser et al, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Statutory Rape: Case Characteristics When Offenders are Younger Than 21 Years of Age Versus Older

Lippert

Clary

Bleoaja

et al. 2020

J Interpers Violence

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Statutory rape laws are intended to protect adolescents from harm as a result of sexual activity with older individuals. In this pursuit, many, but far from all, states’ statutory rape laws differentiate younger and older offenders. In effect, many of these states differentiate offenders who are 21 and older from those who are under 21. It is unknown, however, whether and how the dynamics of statutory rape vary depending on the age of the offender. To explore the contribution of offender age to the dynamics of statutory rape, data were collected from the records of 105 statutory rape cases referred to a child abuse assessment center over a 63-month period. Records included detailed reports on case history and victims’ family history, mental health and health-risking behaviors, medical examination results, and forensic interview summaries. Cases of offenders 1 1. Because these cases are under investigation, “offenders” here refers to “suspects.” For ease of reading, we use “offenders” to be consistent with prior research terminology. under 21 were compared to the cases of offenders 21 years and older. Compared to cases of younger offenders, cases of offenders 21 years and older more often involved slightly older adolescent victims. Independent of age, victims with offenders 21 and over compared with offenders under 21 were over six times as likely to have a prior history of a high, versus low, number of psychosocial problems and were seven times more likely to experience multiple forms of coercion versus no coercion by the offender. Findings suggest that statutory rape prevention, policy and response strategies should consider the critical ways that case characteristics and victims differ according to this key offender attribute.

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Victims, perpetrators and paternalism: image driven sexting laws in Connecticut

Vitis

2019

Fem Leg Stud

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The Effect of Statutory Rape Laws on Teen Birth Rates

Cited by 3 publications

References 43 publications

Do age of consent laws decrease teen births?

Do age of consent laws decrease teen births?

Statutory Rape: Case Characteristics When Offenders are Younger Than 21 Years of Age Versus Older

Victims, perpetrators and paternalism: image driven sexting laws in Connecticut

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