Possibility of Charges For Adult-Minor Sexual Contact, Many Years Later
Hey, I am seeking assistance and need some help in finding out what laws and their consequent statutes are for something that started in 1996 and ended in 1997. If possible I do not simply want to be fed answers, but be shown where and how I can continue to search for information on my own. A big thanks in advance to anyone who helps me with my cause.
Now, I am doing this out of concern for a dear friend of mine. However my involvement is crucial to this. What happened is that in 1996 I met my friend, I was twelve years old and my friend was in his mid thirties. A year later, in 1997, when I was thirteen we shared some kisses on the lips and neck. I also touched my friend through clothing in private places but my friend never touched me anymore than a hug. And there might have been some "inappropriate" verbal exchanges between us. Such as my friend saying "I want to have sex with you but this [the kissing] is already too much". After 1997 we were not in contact again until after I was in my twenties. Just a note, I do not care what your personal opinion on this is, I merely want helping knowing if there is potential legal trouble for my friend even these years later.
But there are some complications to me finding this out on my own. We met in Canada, but are residents of the USA. So I am unsure what State or Federal laws could apply & if the laws in Canada could apply as well. There is also the issue of if my parents, who brought me to the northern country, would they be guilty of child sex trafficking even though this occurred without their knowledge? I have been trying to do online searching on my own but haven't had luck finding what the exact laws are and what they say. I do not want to talk to a lawyer irl just in case there is something that could be held against my friend. I do not think I am being overly paranoid about this, people tend to react very violently towards the idea of an adult and minor even looking at each other.
So in my paranoia I would rather not say what state I reside in, but it is one of the continental ones (big help right? /sarcasm), some search advice on the hows and whats of my own state's laws are would be very helpful. To recap, I also need to know what/if any federal laws can apply. My parents and child sex trafficking laws. How to handle the international aspect of this. Also, of course, the statutes of everything because it was ten years ago. (And just to make my request more complicated we are slightly related to each other, I do not think it would be defined as incest but information on incest laws for The States and Canada would be helpful as well, but not required since that might be off-topic to this forum.)
Overall my main concern is that I do not want to be talking about my friend to anyone and then one day someone decides to report him and my friend winds up having to go to trail...or worse get labeled as a sex offender.
Re: Possibility of Charges For Adult-Minor Sexual Contact, Many Years Later
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Mr. Knowitall: I do hope that the whole family has come to know about this person, as that's the only way they will ever be able to keep their children safe from him.
I do, too.
I hope this person does some research to learn more about what abuse means and how it affects the victim(s). Secrecy and protecting the perpetrator are common characteristics of an abused child. They minimize, take responsibility for the whole thing, and may even pretend that it was an experience that "helped" them mature.
No matter what state you live in, whether in the US or UK, a 30 something adult who engages in "just kissing" an 11 year old child, just at puberty affects the childs psychosocial development. It will help tremously for this person to discover what that means and see if the experience had an affect on him/her.
Re: Possibility of Charges For Adult-Minor Sexual Contact, Many Years Later
Whoever changed the title thanks, better than my original one. And if it wasn't for working on my final paper today I would be taking the search advice as my primary activity today...which sounds a lot better than how I was searching. Not growing up with a computer seems to cause me some grief when I try to do simple things like use a search engine.
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Quoting deadlock
BTW- why do you think anyone would prosecute this person on your behalf?
Because everything is within the realm of possibility and however unlikely it is I won't rule it out of my thinking.
Re: Possibility of Charges For Adult-Minor Sexual Contact, Many Years Later
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Quoting
iD Est
Whoever changed the title thanks, better than my original one. And if it wasn't for working on my final paper today I would be taking the search advice as my primary activity today...which sounds a lot better than how I was searching. Not growing up with a computer seems to cause me some grief when I try to do simple things like use a search engine.
Because everything is within the realm of possibility and however unlikely it is I won't rule it out of my thinking.
The "realm" will be defined by you- not the universe.
My question was meant to encourage you to explore the circumstances of the situation you presented and how it might be considered criminal behavior.
Good luck with your paper and and your research.
Re: Possibility of Charges For Adult-Minor Sexual Contact, Many Years Later
You do have a point about the "realm" deadlock. And I was able to do some successful searching this time around. Withholding the statute of limitation my state would have recognized what occurred as criminal sexual conduct in the fourth degree. So after I believe I have all down that I can about the US I have to inform myself best I can on the international aspect of this...
Re: Possibility of Charges For Adult-Minor Sexual Contact, Many Years Later
If you do not want anything done about this then why bring it up for research? There is no case if you do not make one. The government does not read minds as you walk by on the street. If the only thing that happened was what you say, and it does make me wonder because you are apparently bothered by it after all these years. So basically, if you do not report a molestation then there wasn't one. P.S. Even tho he didn't touch you, letting you touch him can be considered illegal. So if you don't want to press charges then I would let this sleeping dog lie.
Re: Possibility of Charges For Adult-Minor Sexual Contact, Many Years Later
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Quoting
nite_riderusa
If you do not want anything done about this then why bring it up for research? There is no case if you do not make one. The government does not read minds as you walk by on the street. If the only thing that happened was what you say, and it does make me wonder because you are apparently bothered by it after all these years. So basically, if you do not report a molestation then there wasn't one. P.S. Even tho he didn't touch you, letting you touch him can be considered illegal. So if you don't want to press charges then I would let this sleeping dog lie.
As for your PS I did find that out. I guess part of me was curious if anything could even be done these years later. For one, that I thought I mentioned in the first post, what if I just talk to someone about this part of my life and they make the report and things go to chaos from there. Its my life and I don't want to be restricted from just talking about my life without consequently impacting another's life in a negative way. That is the core of my thinking here, its not anything I would do but the overreaction of someone else. Like my parents who don't know, but if it came up one day I wouldn't want their possible reaction to cause chaos.
But I do love your wording here..."if you do not report a molestation then there wasn't one"...and there wasn't one at all. Never :) . I do think this site was able to help me search better for what I was looking for and I feel satisfied with what I was able to find.