BAW: Commentary: With All The Reasons Teens Have for Abstaining from Sex, Possible Prison Shouldn’t Be Among Them

BAW: Commentary: With All The Reasons Teens Have for Abstaining from Sex, Possible Prison Shouldn’t Be Among Them: "There are plenty of reasons to discourage teenagers from sexual activity – STDs, unwanted pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, the risk to emotional health. The possibility of spending 10 years in prison should not be one of them. Georgia has finally gotten that but only after one young man had paid an exceptionally heavy price for the lesson. No one can argue that Genarlow Wilson did a stupid and low-down thing when he was 17 and had sex with a couple of girls who joined him and his buddies at a local motel for a New Year’s Eve party. A girl his age had intercourse with him on the bathroom floor. Then a 15-year-old offered oral sex. It does not strain reason to imagine that a 17-year-old boy, flush with testosterone, would accept. When the adults have done their job best, our manchild has the presence of mind, the judgment and the morals to say “no” when approached so casually with such a consequential proposition. If we’ve done it good enough, they at least feel bad about what they’ve done and bad that they took advantage of a young girl who, for perhaps many reasons, was too pitiful to stop herself. "