Yep, and he should be charged with obstruction of justice. Police resources aren’t free to track a missing/runaway. Even if the runaway is 17.
Don’t give a damn if they are having sex or not. Do give a damn if the police knocked on his door and he said “I don’t know where she is.” Also seems pretty selfish and inconsiderate to her parents - who appear to be worried enough to call the police.
You don’t think kidnapping should include, as an element of the crime, a lack of consent on the part of the victim?
This is about the reverse of my experience - I didn’t have a lot of interest in girls my own age in high school, and gravitated toward nerdy university-age girls I met through BBSs. They could make conversation on topics outside of Duran Duran, and were actively interested having sex as opposed the interminable tease of trying to get next to girls my own age.
Not if the victim is a child, no. Of course not. You think children should be able to “consent” to be taken away from their parents without their parents’ knowledge or permission? Are you kidding me?
If they were so sophisticated then why did they have to hit on high school boys?
Despite my admitted tendencies toward sexist pigism, I find it hard to think of a 17-year-old as a child for these purposes.
What does the gender have to do with it?
A 17-year-old, male or female, is a minor child still under the guardianship of his or her parents. There is no right for another adult to remove that minor from the household without the parents’ consent or knowledge, and imagined “consent” on the part of the child is not relevant. Minors do not have the legal right to leave that household without their parents’ consent.
Do you believe that it should be legal to remove a minor child from a household without the knowledge or consent of his or her legal guardians? You didn’t answer that question.
My sister landed herself in juvie because she refused to live in the same house as my abusive mother when she was 17. Virginia state law.
Yes, I think 17-year-olds of all kinds should have the option of choosing not to live in their parent’s house, even if it’s against their parent’s will.
But did he remove her at all? As far as I can tell it sounds like she left on her own.
He hid her and lied about having knowledge of her whereabouts, so same difference. She was a minor, he was an adult.
On refelection, maybe “kidnapping” is not quite the right charge, but obstruction of justice certainly is, and it’s definitely inappropriate and a crime.
Didn’t I specify that I went for nerds? They didn’t have to be ultra-sophisticated to compare favourably with girls my own age, there just needed to be a community of interest. At the time I had a comically pretentious audio art project that got regular airplay on the local community & university stations (and for one golden moment in the small small hours, CBC stereo,) which may have been attractive to the fringe arts nerds I went with.
They were “mature” in the sense that they were more conscientious about contraception & prophylaxis than I might have been naturally; I’m glad of that.
I’m not sure that it makes sense to hysterically pathologize relations with a bit of an age difference.
Wake me up when there’s an actual news story here. Snore.
ETA: Now, THIS is a news story - Medicine Hat girl who killed her entire family at 12 is being moved to a group home. I’d like to see someone like Nancy Grace chew on something like that.
Most states have some sort of process for a 17 year old (or even younger) to get legal emancipation from their parents. There is a provision for this in Virginia. However, because you are legally a minor, you do need to go through the court system and convince a judge it is in your best interest.
ETA: When I was 18-19-20 I had a friend who was an emancipated 16 year old. Lived on her own, held a job. I haven’t seen her for years, but she is still friends of friends - and did pretty darn well for herself considering her history (abuse) and lack of support.
I blame the Gold Standard!
Well, I have been on both sides of the argument about adults doing minors. My first girlfriend in the biblical sense was a 21 year old sister of one of my friends. My parents weren’t thrilled - I was of course delighted at first. My girlfriend had her own apartment, and could buy alcohol, and let us have parties! What’s not to like? Later, when the 21 year old started talking about marriage, my 16 year old brain freaked and I bolted.
A few years later I am 23, dating a 17 year old (out of HS and on her way to college, so she technically does not bring me under Slithy Tove’s ire.) I love her from the beginning, but do remember my earlier experience. So I don’t mention marriage for years. It worked - we’ll have been married for 12 years this month.
I guess the point of my story is: the main problem with relationships like this is the very high likelihood that the people involved may have very different ideas of what a relationship means and entails. The fact that both parties are likely to have sex without each other really does not enter into it. At 16, I had no intention of getting married for a long time, the 21 year old was talking about getting married when I graduated high school. At 23, I was thinking about marriage in the near future, but the person that I loved wasn’t going to be ready for years. Her parents certainly would have gone nuts if she started to talk about it before she was nearing the end of college. So, I waited.
I do feel for the people that are part of this nut’s narrative this time. I had a friend run away several times around that age as well. I let him sleep in my car. Usually people run away when things are pretty intolerable at home. I don’t know much about this situation, though. I’m not watching Nancy Grace to find out.
It has to do with the fact that I have tendencies towards sexism I consciously guard against. My impulse is to think that a 17-year-old human female is still a kid in need of protection, but that ain’t necessarily so.
It would depend on the individual circumstances. I can imagine situations in which I would help a child who was being abused escape his or her family, regardless of what the law said, for instance. I wouldn’t do what this young man did now, and I doubt I would have at his age, but that doesn’t mean I think it appropriate to clal him anything other than foolish.
And it is willfully obtuse to think that a 17-year-old cannot meaningfully consent to leave home or have sex.
My best friend from high school was legally emancipated at that age as well. She lived on her own from junior year on. If you knew her and and her parents, you’d think she waited a year too long to get out of Dodge.
In Ohio, they have a law for this exact situation, called interference with custody:
That’s a very cost effective solution to overcrowing. Move the kid out of prison to free up prison space, and have the kid kill off her new group home roomies to free up space there too.
NOW you’re talking! She could clean out the whole penitentiary system!
That would depend on the law of each particular jurisdiction.