In a discussion with reporters earlier this week, Governor Ben Cayetano brought up the Legislature’s current push to raise Hawaii’s legal age of sexual consent from 14 to 16. His comments indicated he opposes serious penalties for adults who have
In a discussion with reporters earlier this week, Governor Ben Cayetano brought up the Legislature’s current push to raise Hawaii’s legal age of sexual consent from 14 to 16.
His comments indicated he opposes serious penalties for adults who have sex with children.
Hawai’i is the only state in the union where the minimum age is 14. In every other state, a 14-year-old is considered a sexual assault victim, even if consenting to the sex act, because 16, 17 or 18 is the youngest legal age for consent.
Cayetano said “some interesting bills” this year in the Legislature one that proposes raising Hawaii’s minimum age, which he said “requires a great deal of discussion.”
“I’d have less problems with it if there was some way to mitigate the (male’s) lack of knowledge (of the female’s age),” the governor volunteered during a chat with reporters. “Given the world today, it’s not easy to tell who is a 14, 15 or 16-year-old. There should be some penalty but not any kind of mandatory sanction … no strict liability.”
Kelly Rosati, the executive director of the Oahu-based Hawai’i Family Forum for the past three years, leads an organization that is strongly pushing to raise the state’s age of consent and penalize adults who have sex with children.
“We’ve been working on this issue for a couple of years, and this year I’m hopeful. We have the broad support of legislators on both sides of the aisle (Republican and Democrat). Fifty-six of 61 legislators who responded to us say they are in favor of raising it to 16,” Rosati said.
A poll of legislators by the Catholic Herald, an Oahu-based Catholic newspaper, found 75 percent of those asked supported raising the minimum age to 16.
Rosati asserted that Hawai’i Family Forum is not interested in criminalizing teenagers having sex with other teenagers.
“What I think we’ll end up with is a bill with a five-year (provision) which means that anyone 20 years or older having sex with a 14 or 15 year-old would be guilty of sexual assault,” Rosati said.
Currently under Hawai’i law, adults having sex with children 13 and under are usually charged with first degree sexual assault (statutory rape).
Rosati said that the new legislation would probably mandate a lesser charge, probably second or third degree sexual assault, for someone 20 or older who has sex with a 14-year-old, even if the youngster agreed to the sex act.
“There is some concern among law enforcement about the difficulties in prosecuting some of these cases. Our answer to that is, too bad. There are some of the same kind of dynamics in domestic violence cases, and those are prosecuted,” Rosati concluded.
There are as many as 15 bills addressing the age of consent issue in the Legislature at this point, according to Rosati. And she added she is the most “hopeful’ she’s ever been that one of them will wend its way to the governor’s desk for him to consider signing into law.
Both of Kauai’s state senators — Jonathan Chun (D-7th District) and Avery Chumbley (D-6th District) — have backed bills in the past, and again this year, to raise Hawaii’s age of consent to 16.
Chumbley’s proposed bill this year, his fourth in as many years, includes the age-differential aimed at adults that Rosati said she supports.
“Older men preying on young victims is where we ought to focus our energies,” Chumbley has said.
Staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) and mailto:dwilken@pulitzer.net
