Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

I leave you this fine evening with a column by A. C. Grayling, who, for a philosopher, is remarkably uncurious about the crime of rape. He assimilates forcible rape to statutory rape, in which the under-age victim is conclusively presumed by law to be incapable of consenting, even if (1) she happens to be mature and (2) she in fact consents. Are there no distinctions to be made within this broad category? Do we want to assimilate statutory rape to murder and genocide?