I’m working on a sociology question and need guidance to help me study.

Discussion question : A 23-year-old male softball coach has consensual sexual intercourse with a 17-year-old female player while driving her home after a game. A 23-year-old female high school teacher engages in consensual sexual relations with a 17-year-old male student during an after school tutoring session in the classroom. These are two crimes that carry with them the same penalties because they violate the same statute. Based upon your concept of justice, should the consequences for the female offender and the male offender be the same, or should there be different consequences for each of them? Read this article from Issues in Ethics and then make a decision (https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/ethical-decision-making/justice-and-fairness/) Please cite an additional source(s) when formulating your responses and do not use Issues in Ethics article as your primary source for your initial post.

Here is my answer: The 23-year-old male softball coach has consensual sexual intercourse with a 17-year-old female player. The 23-year-old female high school teacher who engages in consensual sexual relations 17-year-old male should get the same punishment. The two offenders have committed a similar offense covered by the same statute as outlined by the sexual crimes Act, 2019. In both cases, the minor gave consent. Still, the court cannot admit that consent because the offenses were committed by persons with supervisory roles who fall under the sexual offenses institutional law.It will be and fare to give these offenders a similar verdict. In this case, both offenders have supervisory roles. The softball coach is both a mentor and a supervisor of the female player. Softball coaching is likely to occur in a designated area clearly stated by law as an ‘institution.’ Thus, the coach is a direct supervisor of all minors under his care. The female teacher who committed a sexual offense after-school tutoring session in the classroom will be in a similar situation. The teacher is a direct supervisor and mentors to the minor.A decision to give the softball coach and the teacher a similar verdict will meet the basic principles of natural justice. The coach and the teacher need to be treated equally before the law. Backous & Graham (2014) explain that persons who commit similar offenses need to be treated equally and probably given the same fines and punishments, including prison terms. The law allows exceptional treatment if there are clear and relevant differences.In this case, the teacher and the coach committed an offense under similar circumstances. In both situations, the culprits committed the violations while they were in an authoritative condition under their office, duties, and responsibilities. Thus the decision on the criminality of these offenders should be based on the same federal sexual offenses statute or the relevant state laws on sexual child abuse. Most states in the U.S. prohibit all forms of sexual relationships between supervisors, educators, and students. Although the age of consent in most states is 16 years, institutional law allows prosecutors to charge all sex offenders with supervisory roles.Thus although the two minors, in this case, are aged 17 years, their consent to sexual intercourse is limited by the fact that the offenders were not just their peers but persons with authority. The is a possibility that the coach and the teacher can easily use their positions of power to install fear in the minors and compel them to give consent ( 18 U.S.C. § 2242).In conclusion, it will be fair if the teacher and the coach are given similar fines and prison terms. They committed a similar sexual offense, and their verdict cannot be separated. They need to be punished for their sexual misconduct in a manner that other persons who hold office or have authority will be discouraged from engaging in sexual offenses with minors under the disguise of consent.

What to do is writing replies to each of fellow classmates:

1- Diego ; The two offenders should receive the same consequences as they have both violated a law. Justice should not look into an individual’s race, sex or religious preference when it comes to serving justice. Unfortunately, there has been gender bias in the criminal justice system, especially when it comes with female teachers having sex with a student. Criminal lawyer, Brad Smith states, “Statistically speaking, male teachers are more likely to get longer jail terms for having a sexual relationship with students. There was a 2013 study by the New Jersey Star-Ledger newspaper that concluded that male teachers receive harsher legal punishments in teacher-student sex crimes compared to female teachers.” Those numbers are that males averaged 2.4 years in prison compared with 1.6 years in prison for women. There could be a clear sense of double standards here since, historically males have been the only ones to commit sex crimes and women were never seen as a potential threat to commit this level of crime, Additionally, as sex crimes became more prevalent, the courts wanted to protect women, and started to create laws specific to target men, in order to protect women. For example, statutory rape laws, historically, have been “written with gendered terms to protect females from male predators.” A common statute for statutory rape laws would state, “unlawful sexual intercourse is an act of sexual intercourse accomplished with a female who is not the wife of the perpetrator where the female is under the age of 18 years.” This is clearly pointed towards male offenders, and essentially if a female were to this, she would not be in trouble since it didn’t apply to her. Justice should not be administered and bounded towards sex of the individual as it creates problems and creates a double standard. If a law is violated, justice will be administered appropriately and like the saying, lady justice is blindfolded so she does not see the persons sex, race, religion, etc, to make a fair call. Write reply here ….

2- Mariah: Women have fought long and hard to be considered “equal” to men. It would be unfair to discriminate now based on gender for the same criminal action if everything was consensual with both parties. According to SHOUSE California Law Group, those who are minors are allowed to date someone who is older as long as there is no sexual activity between them, once their is sexual activity it becomes a crime. I believe the individuals should face the same penalties. If one gender did not receive the same punishment, for the same crime, it would give off the impression that this is ok for one gender to do it but not the other. If there were to be a difference in punishment who should receive the short end of the stick, women or men? Write a reply here…

3- Adrian: I think that the punishment for both the female teacher and the male coach should be the same. They both did the same act which was not right because in both situations it involved a minor. In the article it claims that justice means “Justice means giving each person what he or she deserves”. In this case I think it would be unjust to give the women or male a different sentencing because of their gender. I also think in both situations they took advantage of their 17-year-old victims even though they had “consent”. It seems to me that a 17-year-old does not have the full understanding of the meaning of having a sexual relationship. They might be saying “yes” but in their mind they might not want to continue the actions of sexual intercourse. They may be afraid of saying no, it might get them into some trouble . In the article I found it states that women teachers who are caught having sexual intercourse with students are less likely to receive harsh punishments. The article states “In many criminal cases, female teachers seem to get a slap on the wrist compared to substantial jail time that male teachers serve for engaging in a sexual relationship with an underage female student.” I do not think that is right because both female and male adults did the same crime, but one is receiving a lesser sentence. That’s not justice, it should not matter if the adult is female or male. It’s wrong and they should be serving the same amount of time for their actions. Even though in this situation it’s a male softball coach not a female teacher, I think coaches for a school are held at the same standards as teachers in these situations. Write a reply here….

4- Jon : When I read this article about justice and fairness between crimes, my first initial response would be if the sexual relation is consensual, then I would personal believe that this would be fine. When I state that it is fine, I define that by the parents are aware and the legal guardian(s) have been informed and they mutually understand the degree of the situation. But from a legal standpoint, I have concluded that if these two individual crimes were supposed to be punished and they needed to be reprimanded for the actions that had happened. I think for the sake of the punishment, they should be equally punished. According to the article, they state that the true definition of punishment is: “Individuals should be treated the same, unless they differ in ways that are relevant to the situation in which they are involved.” write a reply here … Thank you