Perspective: Teenage sex, the law and a prosecutor's dilemma

Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe, a bear of a man and an aggressive crime-fighter, was wounded by a recent Times editorial criticizing him for prosecuting teenagers who get their girlfriends pregnant. He especially didn't care for the headline -- "McCabe's moral crusade." McCabe said his friends got a hoot out of seeing his name next to the words "moral crusade." But an avalanche of mail told McCabe the public didn't think it was funny.

I recently sat down with McCabe and Beverly Andringa, executive assistant state attorney who oversees the prosecution of sex crimes, to hear their side of the story. They basically wanted to say the issue is not as easy a call for prosecutors as their critics suggest.

The editorial focused on the case of a Pasco teenager who was charged with committing a lewd and lascivious act against a minor, a felony crime treated as a delinquent act in the juvenile system. Chris Boudreau was 17 when he got his 13-year-old girlfriend, Denise Weaver, pregnant. After she gave birth to a baby girl, health department officials notified authorities, as they are required to under state law. That law was supposed to be aimed at older men who take advantage of teenage girls, but somewhere along the way prosecutors started using it to go after teenagers who engage in consensual sex.

Contrary to what has been reported in the press, McCabe and Andringa say Boudreau was never facing prison time or being branded as a sex offender, as he would have had he turned 18 the day his girlfriend became pregnant. Because he was 17 at the time, he was charged as a juvenile.

McCabe says the public outcry over the Boudreau prosecution led him to review the way these cases are handled. He discovered that prosecutors in Pasco and Pinellas counties don't always apply consistent standards in deciding whether to file charges. "I have tightened things up," he said. Among the things prosecutors should take into consideration, he said, are the age difference, whether the pregnancy resulted from a consensual sex act, whether anyone wants to press charges, whether the father has a prior history and whether he is willing to accept responsibility.

By those standards, it's still not clear to me why Pasco prosecutors pressed criminal charges against Boudreau. Andringa acknowledged that if the Boudreau case had come to her desk for a decision, she would have declined to prosecute. For one thing, neither Weaver, who is now 16, nor her mother wanted to press charges. Moreover, after charges were filed, Boudreau accepted responsibility for what he had done. He married Weaver, bought a mobile home and is supporting his family. They are expecting a second baby soon.

As things turned out, Boudreau accepted a deal. Prosecutors allowed him to plead no contest to a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He will serve one year of probation and is required to continue supporting his 18-month-old daughter.

The outcome, McCabe told reporters, "is consistent with our philosophy to see that the child is taken care of and the father is held responsible." Contrary to what some of his critics might think, McCabe said he is not out to send teenagers to prison for having sex.

Andringa estimates that only a quarter of the cases involving juvenile sex that come to her office are prosecuted, and that many of those result in plea bargains like the deal Boudreau received. Others are settled outside the legal system. In most cases, the juvenile offenders can avoid going to trial by accepting a "plan" that requires them to attend school or get a job, to stay away from illegal drugs and alcohol, to avoid anyone their parents disapprove of, to complete parenting classes, to abide by any curfew imposed by their parents and to enroll in a family counseling program, among other conditions.

Other cases, she said, are more difficult. Those are the cases involving repeat offenders, runaways, alcohol and drugs and young men with criminal records who refuse to accept responsibility for the children they bring into the world.

Jack Levine, president of the Center for Florida's Children, said the Boudreau incident is a case study in how the sex offender law is being misused. "At no point should we be looking at the issue of teen-with-teen consensual sex as a felonious act," said Levine. "Prosecuting fathers and imprisoning them is certainly not preventing anything. It only destroys families."

Andringa knows perhaps better than anyone that the law is broken. She would like to see it revised to separate juvenile sex cases from those involving adults preying on minors. But until the Legislature acts, we can probably expect to see more teenage lovers dragged into the criminal justice system. These matters used to be settled outside the courtroom by parents and ministers. They often resulted in "shotgun weddings." Sometimes, the boy abandoned both the mother and the baby. But at least an 18-year-old male who fathered a baby with a 16-year-old girl didn't face prison time or having his name listed on the Internet as a sex offender, a sinister label that means whatever people want it to mean. To some, it means a dangerous sexual predator; to others a sexual pervert or even child molester.

Bill Clinton had sex with a White House intern young enough to be his daughter, lied about it under oath and beat the rap. A majority of Americans said he should stay in office and be allowed to do his job as president. Surely the Florida Legislature doesn't want someone like Chris Boudreau to be treated more harshly than a sex-offender-in-chief.

Back to Perspective

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright

From the Times
Opinion page