Arizona Statutory Rape with 2 Minors
My question involves criminal law for the state of: ARIZONA
My son is 15 years old going on 16, his girlfriend is 14 going on 15.
Apparently they had sex(:wallbang:) and now the mother and father of the girl are considering filing statutory rape charges.
i've looked up the law and am a bit confused as BOTH parties in this case are minors. I do see there is a section on people UNDER 15 years of age but don't exactly know how that could/would effect the situation(legally of course).
We've spoken to our son and while we're glad he used protection, we were not thrill he chose the path he did.
So basically would I be correct in saying we could file charges as well if this went to court as our son is under 18 years of age as well?
Re: Arizona Stutory Rape with 2 Minors
The only thing the parents of the girl involved get to decide is whether or not to file a police report - after that, it's not up to them. Since she is under 15, there is a much stronger liklihood that the police would be willing to take a statutory rape report (because it's a felony), but it's ultimately up to the DA's office to decide whether or not to pursue the criminal charge - and whether to do so in either juvenile or adult court. Since your son is over 14 he CAN be tried as an adult in Arizona. Only the DA's office can answer if they WOULD do this, but some of the factors they'll consider are:
1) the severity of the offense (in this case, it's a Class 2 felony - much more severe than a misdemeanor)
2) is the crime likely to happen again? (are they still seeing each other? there will be much more interest to pursue the case if part of the reason is to PREVENT additional "crimes")
3) the strength of the evidence that the charged event happened (he's already TOLD you, and who knows who else, that it did happen - not good for him)
4) prior record (unknown, but ANY kind of prior problems could factor in)
5) the genger of the accused (right or wrong, males get charged more often than females - so, not good for him)
6) parent's demonstrated ability to control the minor (the greater the lack of parental control, the more likely the case could be filed - if you don't already know where he is and what he's doing all the time, now's the time to START KNOWING - ALL THE TIME - somehow these two found the unsupervised time to get together and this could play a factor)
In addition to criminal charges, the parents could also request a restraining order against your son, ordering him to stay away from the girl or face arrest.
Quote:
So basically would I be correct in saying we could file charges as well if this went to court as our son is under 18 years of age as well?
You can ask to file a police report, but since SHE is UNDER 15, there's not a snowball's chance in hell that it'll go anywhere. Your report will only have the effect of reporting your son as the criminal. Her being 14 is ALWAYS going to cast him (15 or over) as the perpetrator.
I'm not saying any of this is right, wrong, or fair...only that this is the way the system is going to view and handle the matter.