Editorial: A little less conversation, a little more action: the crisis of statutory rape: is it the law, implementation, or culture?

In this editorial we raise our concerns regarding the way the PPC has framed the issue as relating mainly to the mandatory reporting of the crime of statutory rape, and the need for further legislative reform through more criminalization measures. It builds on our prior scholarship on teenage pregnancies, blesser relationships, mandatory reporting and the Teddy Bear Clinic case,[1,2,8-13] where we have repeatedly and consistently argued that the criminal law on its own is not the best mechanism for remedying harms resulting from socioeconomic and structural sources. We argue that the root causes of the problem are structural, social and cultural, and that it is clear that blanket mandatory reporting will have limited, if any, benefit, and instead poses serious unintended consequences for sexually active children between the ages of 12 and 16 years, with little to no impact on the adult perpetrator.