13-year-old charged with carnal knowledge

It is one of those tricky cases sure to spark public comment: a thirteen-year-old boy has been charged with the unlawful carnal knowledge of a thirteen-year-old girl. The case was brought to the attention of police by the girl’s mother after she discovered the boy in her daughter’s room early Tuesday morning. The Police Department reminds the public that the legal age of consent is sixteen. Similar cases have prompted the National Committee for Families and Children to review the existing laws and revise those which have a built in gender bias or are inconsistent with other laws regarding sexual assault, legal age of consent, or marriage.