Culture | January 14, 2009 | 16 comments

US court says: Sex between teachers, 18-year-olds OK

source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2009-01/14/content_7397826.htm

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SEATTLE – Washington state law does not bar teachers from having consensual sex with 18-year-old students, an appeals court ruled Tuesday in dismissing a case against a former high school choir teacher.

The teacher, Matthew Hirschfelder, was charged with first-degree sexual misconduct with a minor for allegedly having sex with a Hoquiam High School senior in 2006. He challenged a judge's refusal to dismiss his case, arguing the student wasn't a minor because she was 18.

Hirschfelder, who was 33 at the time, also denies any sexual relationship occurred.

A three-judge panel of the Washington Court of Appeals unanimously agreed that the case should be dismissed. While the law was written vaguely, a review of legislative history shows that lawmakers only intended to criminalize contact between teachers and 16- or 17-year-old students — not those over 18, the court said.

"The name of the statute is 'sexual misconduct with a minor,'" said Hirschfelder's attorney, Rob Hill, stressing that the state recognizes that an 18-year-old is no longer a minor.

"This is a real concern of mine, and with the court decision today, that just strengthens this bill," Haler said. "We need to protect our students as long as they're in our public schools, irrespective of age."

- I say, is it really the governments place to decide who an 18 year old can have sex with?? I don't.
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16 comments // US court says: Sex between teachers, 18-year-olds OK

  • Motherofthree
    • 0
      Motherofthree  

    • Counselors, therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists are all forbidden from having sex with their clients, even divorce lawyers are forbidden from sleeping with their clients - think about it folks - it's so they can't take advantage of the people they are supposed to be serving, who's interests they are supposed to be watching out for. A teacher who sleeps with a student - who cares what their age is- betraying a trust and interfering and harming the emotional development of the student. It's just heinous that the courts are allowing teachers to continue to use their student body as if it were their own personal harem - teachers are not at school to find a date or hook up with a barely legal - there is no rationale that makes such behavior okay.

    • 3 years ago
  • Rollin7s
    • 0
      Rollin7s  

    • I actually have a little anecdote...

      i talked to this girl i had a small crush on in high school recently, and she said that she had sex with a teacher a month after she turned 18. (I didn't go to that high school senior year, so I don't know the teacher.) Basically, though, she was thrilled that it happened, as all the girls wanted to bang this one teacher for whatever reason.

      The act itself doesn't bother me -- an 18-year-old is legally an adult. However, the potential conflict-of-interest that arises between the student and teacher (i.e., how the student will be graded) is wrong. Teachers should be able to have sex with a consenting adult student, but that pupil should have to study the course under a different professor.

    • 3 years ago
  • Motherofthree
    • 0
      Motherofthree  
    • Rollin7s:

      I also had a sexual relationship with a teacher when I was a teen - I was also "thrilled" at the time. Every hear the phrase "Young and dumb and full of...???"
      That man cut me off from so much opportunity for many years until I finally found the courage to get away from him. Trust me - the thrill wears off.

    • 3 years ago
  • SHAWN_RITTIMAN
  • cantucwearebrothers
  • CreditFigaro
    • 0
      CreditFigaro  

    • This is possibly the best news I have heard out of the government in a long time.

      Something tells me that enrollment in college for teaching degrees is going to skyrocket...

    • 3 years ago
  • SHAWN_RITTIMAN
  • pinkerbelle
  • shade1012
  • aburk72
    • 0
      aburk72  

    • "I say, is it really the governments place to decide who an 18 year old can have sex with??"

      I agree it is not a legal issue, but it is an ethics issue. I think that schools could have policy that state that sex and/or intimate relationship between a teacher and a student is not allowed.

      Furthermore, teachers need to be educated on the psychological dimensions of the teacher/student relationship including the strong inclination towards what is called transference in psychology. The teacher should be equipped to deal with this and his/her own counter-transference.

      It is no a strong display of health for a teacher to become romantically involved with a student.

    • 3 years ago
  • crispyfritters
  • crispyfritters
    • 0
      crispyfritters  

    • Well, they're 18, so as long as it's not rape they're free to do whatever they want. I've seen wider, and much creepier age gaps before. Take thirty year old women marrying rich 87 year olds, for example.

      If the student was 14 years old at the time, it would be a MUCH different story.

    • 3 years ago
  • moarzors
  • Armageddon_Now
  • abbym0308
    • 0
      abbym0308  

    • There is no law against consenting adults sleeping with their teachers. I think it's a bit weird, and probably not really socially acceptable, but definitely no place for the government to decide.

    • 3 years ago
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