Age of Consent Laws
Credits
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following institutions for primary sources:
- AVERTing HIV and Aids,
- European Court of Human Rights,
- European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research,
- Harvard University Press,
- The Old Bailey Proceedings Online Project,
- Prentice-Hall,
- Prometheus Books,
- University of North Carolina Press,
- Vampi Soul, and
- Virginia Department of Health: Sexual Violence Prevention.
About the Author
Stephen Robertson is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Sydney in Australia. He did his undergraduate studies in History and English at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, and his Ph.D. at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Prior to coming to Sydney in 2000, he was a post-doctoral fellow at the American Bar Foundation in Chicago (1997-98), and the JNG Finley Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of History at George Mason University (1998-99). He also taught for a semester at Massey University in New Zealand. His first book, Crimes against Children: Sexual Violence and Legal Culture in New York City, 1880-1960, explored the prosecution of sex crimes during the period in which new ideas about childhood transformed American laws regarding sexual violence. His current research explores everyday life in Harlem in the 1920s. He teaches courses on childhood and youth in modern America, the history of New York City, and digital history. In 2006, he was awarded a Carrick Australian Award for University Teaching Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning.
About the Lesson Plan Author
Sharon Cohen teaches AP World History and IB Theory of Knowledge at Springbrook High School in Maryland. She regularly presents papers on world history pedagogy at the annual conferences of the World History Association, the American Historical Association, the National Council for Teaching History, and the National Council for the Social Studies, served on the College Board's AP World History Development Committee, contributed articles to the online journal World History Connected, and published curriculum units in world history for the College Board and the online model world history project World History For Us All.
How to Cite This Source
Stephen Robertson, "Age of Consent Laws," in Children and Youth in History, Item #230, https://cyh.rrchnm.org/items/show/230 (accessed August 10, 2021).
- Introduction
- Primary Sources
- The Trial of Stephen Arrowsmith (1678) [Trial Record]
- "The Violation of Virgins" [Newspaper Article]
- Petition to Raise the Age of Consent (1887) [Petition]
- "Review of the Age-of-Consent Legislation in Texas"[Magazine Article, 1895]
- Speech Defending an Increased Age of Consent in India (1891) [Speech Transcript]
- Adolescent Sexual Experimentation Should Not Be a Crime [Commentary]
- Jailbait (1957) [Song Lyrics]
- U.S. Supreme Court Decision Justifying Gender-Based Age of Consent Laws [Legal Document]
- Rejection of a Higher Age of Consent for Homosexual Acts [Legal Decision]
- Isn't she a little young? Sex with a minor. Don't go there. [Billboard]
- Age of Consent Laws [Table]
- Age of Menarche in Norway [Chart]
- Teaching
- Resources