[neuroman]

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18/17/16 whatever is such an arbitrary age. If some 30 y.o. guy is having consensual sex with a 16 y.o. and in his state it's illegal, yet in the next state over it's legal, what makes it so bad? He just got reamed by a law that nitpicks about someone's age rather than some actual bad thing that occured. If it's so clear what age is right or wrong then why do different states have different ages? Why do different countries have different laws regarding this kind of thing? Murder is obviously bad. "Statutory rape" is not.

Now if we're talking porn of 10 year olds then I think that's a clear crime.

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It is pretty arbitrary, and it's stupid.

There's no way to avoid drawing arbitrary lines however. I think the solution is to draw more lines.

If the age of consent is 17, for example, I think a good scheme for penalties would be something like:
15-16: offense level 1*
13-14: offense level 2
12 or younger: offense level 3

*I think having offense level 1 as a misdemeanor crime and not a felony would be appropriate, unless it is a 2nd offense.