Kaitlyn Hunt
As certain cases do – almost every week now, it seems – the case against 18-year-old Kaitlyn Hunt for having sex with a 14-year-old schoolmate has gone national. And in this instance, I don’t think it is because the media is trying to exploit a potentially juicy teen lesbian drama.
Rather, I think there are some real and significant issues here that need to be examined and considered.
Ms. Hunt is being charged with two felony counts of lewd and lascivious battery on the younger girl. Though both participants claim the sexual intimacy was consensual, by Florida law, an individual under the age of 16 is not able to consent to sex. Therefore, any sexual act with a boy or girl fifteen or younger is to one degree or another statutory rape.
If Ms. Hunt is convicted, she could face up to 15 years in prison.
The complaint was originated by the younger girl’s parents, who say they are just trying to protect their daughter. Others have claimed that the reason the charge was brought was because it involved homosexuality.
Hunt’s attorney, Julia Graves, stated: “This is a situation of two teenagers who happen to be of the same sex involved in a relationship. If this case involved a boy and girl, there would be no media attention to this case.”
That may very well be so. But it does involve two girls, and there is media attention.
Actually, a statement Ms. Graves made a little later has more bearing, in my opinion. “If this incident occurred 108 days earlier when (Kaitlyn) was 17, we wouldn’t even be here.”
The Indian River County prosecutor’s office has offered a plea deal to Kaitlyn that would avoid prison time by requiring her to plead guilty to felony child abuse. She would have two years of strict supervision followed by a year of probation, during which time her probation officer would have full access to all of her Internet communication and would be able to monitor her calls and phone records.
The Hunt family has rejected this deal.
Now, far be it from me to ever criticize parents trying to protect their children from any form of sexual predation. And I have no way of knowing one way or the other whether the 14-year-old has suffered any emotional trauma as a result of her early sexual experimentation.
But when we look at any case of this kind – regardless of whether it involves hetero- or homosexual activity, the specific details are crucially important in determining what the proper disposition should be.
First, it must be determined whether this actually was a consensual act on the part of the younger girl. If it can be determined reliably that there was any coercion involved, then a crime has been committed and it can be prosecuted accordingly.
But if the sexual activity truly was consensual between both girls – and practically speaking, they are both still girls, not yet adult women – then their relative ages should be the main point of consideration. Yes, at the age of 14, four years is a big gap. But it is not an enormous one.
Another point of consideration should be the older girl’s previous record and behavior, and from what we know at this point, Kaitlyn Hunt’s record was completely clean.
That being the case, any serious punishment for her seems counterproductive on all levels. First, what she has gone through so far in her own environment and in the crucible of public opinion seems to me more than adequate punishment for any lapse in judgment of which she may have been guilty. A trial will serve no judicial or public policy benefit, and asking the younger girl to take the stand and testify publicly seems downright cruel. I guarantee it will be far more traumatic for her than the intimacy with the older girl could have been, if it was at all.
A 15 year prison sentence for Ms. Hunt speaks for itself in terms of downright wrongheadedness. It would be taking a law-abiding and productive member of society and turning her into a social throwaway, exactly what we do not want our judicial and corrections system to do. The plea deal would be almost as destructive in that it would taint Kaitlyn’s entire life, making her virtually unemployable because she would have to declare on any job application that she was a convicted felon. Moreover, she would be a registered sex offender. And all because she happened to be 18 and a legal adult when she and a younger girl engaged in sexual activities that in this day and age are going on all around them.
As our readers know, John Douglas and I are all for law and order. But we are not for stupidity. And if the facts of this case are what they appear to be, persecuting Kaitlyn Hunt and traumatizing and stigmatizing the 14-year-old for a technical violation of law rather than resolving it all among the families or in the guidance counselor’s office would be just plain stupid.
I am shocked