[citation][nom]gizmogamez[/nom]I was under the impression that even though the age of consent here is 16, that both parties still had to be under 18yo, and that if you had a case like this you can still charge the woman, since she is over 18y of age and he is a minor.however, i can understand that the cops here could of been willing to not charge her knowing (or having already talked with cops in Texas) that it would be easier and result in a harsher punishment if she was charged in Texas under "child enticement".I have heard of cops doing this before....[/citation]
No, that is not what age of consent means. Age of consent (in terms of sex) means the age at which a person is legally considered competent to give consent, as to sexual intercourse. Consent, meaning permission, to anyone else at or above the age of consent. When it comes to this, the law is pretty black and white and usually does not make exceptions. The age of consent in Michigan, is the same as in Canada, so I'm almost 100% certain that the law is the same.. and here it means if you're 16 or over, you can legally have sex with anyone else who gives you permission and is also 16 or over.
I also agree with those above saying Texas is over-stepping it's bounds. I could see a point if they were both from Texas and ran away to Canada, but that isn't what happened, nor did she bring him back to Texas. I understand she is being arrested for the chats, but again, the kid wasn't from Texas, nor even from this country. In his country it is legal for the two to engage in sexually explicit acts, that is what should matter.
But, we love to villianize people for sex (that is not considered "normal") in the US, so I'm pretty sure Texas thinks it's more than justified to put a mother of 4 in prison for having a relationship with the 16 year old kid.
Funny that in Texas, a 16 year old can be tried as an adult for some crimes, but that same 16 year old isn't able to consent to sex with an adult. It's not like this kid is innocent or was being taken advantage of, I'm pretty sure he knew full well what he was doing. How would 2 years, or for Texas 1 year (age of consent there being 17), really make a difference whether this kid is capable of deciding to have sex or not.
While others might find this gross or disgusting, that is just an opinion based upon your own morals. Not everyone lives by those exact same morals. Pretty much any 16 year old who hasn't lived the most sheltered of lives would know what they're getting into and are probably enticing the adult, every bit as much as the adult is enticing them. Was there any actual harm done? No. The only harm I see is two parents who never discipline their kid, and let him basically waste his life on a video game. That is the only real shameful part of this story, well that and Texas being incredibly over-zealous with their treatment of this woman.
In my opinion anyway... Your (the general you) mileage may vary.