Critics say teens need education on sex laws

<p>Health teachers have long warned teens that they risk becoming pregnant or contracting diseases if they are sexually active. A few are now adding a new lesson to the list: Have sex and you're breaking the law.</p><p>Pop culture may be filled with images of promiscuous high schoolers, but in many states it's still illegal for them to actually have sex, even if they're close in age. And although legal experts say it's rare for prosecutors to seek charges, they can and sometimes do.</p><p>Perhaps the most famous example is Genarlow Wilson, the Georgia man serving a 10-year prison sentence for receiving oral sex from a 15-year-old girl. Georgia lawmakers have softened the law prosecutors used to sentence Wilson but they didn't erase the criminal penalty altogether. It's still a misdemeanor.</p><p>Lawyers and health educators say most teens _ and even many parents _ are unaware that consensual teenage sex is often a crime.</p><p>"We do a disgraceful job of educating kids about the very real consequences that they face," said former DeKalb County District Attorney J. Tom Morgan, who has a new book coming out "Ignorance Is No Defense: A Teenagers Guide to Georgia Law."</p><p>Across the country, ages of consent ranges from 14 to 18. An increasing number of states have moved to create so-called Romeo and Juliet exceptions that keep teens from facing harsh jail time and registering as a sex offender if they are just a few years apart.</p><p>But the patchwork of laws and ages leaves many confused and critics say more education is badly needed.</p><p>"If society is going to punish them as adults," said Morgan, "then society ought to educate them."</p><p>Information on precisely what sex education classes are teaching is hard to come by. Few classes inspire more controversy, and the curriculum is largely left up to local districts.</p><p>Monica Rodriguez, vice president for education and training at the Sexuality Informational and Education Council of the United States, said she's encountered few classes that teach age of consent laws as part of their curriculum.</p><p>Trudy Higgins-Edison is an exception. The teacher began asking a police officer to teach a class on sex and the law to high schoolers at her Sugar Land, Texas school two years ago. She said it's probably her most popular class.</p><p>"The kids are really engaged and ask a lot of questions," Higgins-Edison said. "And most of them are completely amazed that they could actually be arrested."</p><p>Perhaps not surprisingly, the topic appears to be catching on the fastest in schools that receive federal funding for abstince-from-sex education programs.</p><p>Valerie Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association, said districts that receive the federal funds are encouraged to teach age of consent laws as part of their classes.</p><p>The coordinator of federal abstinence funds in Georgia said it's a requirement for participating schools in the Peach State.</p><p>Wilson's lawyer, B.J. Bernstein, has become so caught up in the issue that she's visiting schools in Georgia talking about her client's situation and urging teens to learn the law. She's set up a nonprofit called "My 5th" _ named for the Fifth Amendment _ designed to teach teens their rights.</p><p>"Kids are getting their information from friends or the Internet and it's not always accurate," Bernstein said. "I tell them things like if your partner lies to you about their age that's not defense. If you take a picture and put it online you can get in trouble."</p><p>"They are hungry for this information."</p><p>Kim Muns knows all too well where ignorance can lead.</p><p>Her son Chad was arrested at age 17 for having sexual intercourse with his 14-year-old girlfriend. Authorities learned about the relationship after the girl was questioned by a counselor about another case. Although the girlfriend's family asked prosecutors not to pursue charges against Muns, he was arrested in July 2003.</p><p>Muns faced the a similar choice as Wilson did: plead guilty to a lesser charge or face a possible 10 year sentence for aggravated child molestation. He opted for the plea, served 2 1/2 years behind bars and will be on probation for 17 years. He's now a student at Georgia Southern University and is on the sex offender registry.</p><p>Shocked by what happened to her son, Kim Muns began pressing for more education on the laws.</p><p>"I had no idea that it was not OK for Chad to be dating this girl," Muns said.</p><p>State Rep. Ed Setzler, an Acworth Republican, took up her cause and pushed a bill in 2005 that would have required schools to teach students about the laws under which they could be tried as an adult, including sex laws.</p><p>The measure passed the Georgia House but failed in the Senate amid what Setzler said were concerns about imposing mandates on the schools. Ultimately a watered-down version of the measure was approved that offers information about the laws to parents in hopes they would share it with their children.</p><p>Muns called the result disappointing.</p><p>"These kids have to know what they are facing out there," she said. "It's not a fair fight."</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x2df0ab0)</p><p>HASH(0x2df0b58)</p>

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