Age of consent

Another teacher dallies with another student:

A female Pike High School assistant teacher was being held Thursday, accused of engaging in sex acts with a 17-year-old male student.

Taine Abdullah, 40, was in the Marion County Jail on Thursday on a preliminary charge of child seduction. Bond was set at $300,000.

The student told police he thought of Abdullah, his study hall teacher, as a mentor.

You don't have to read very far into the comments by readers to know that people aren't reacting to this quite the way they would if it were a 40-year-old male teacher and a 17-year-old female student: You call this a crime? Paging Mrs. Robinson! Wish I'd had a mentor like that when I was in school! How can they charge her for sleeping with a 17-year-old when 16 is the age of consent?

But Indiana's child seduction law was designed specifically to cover 16- and 17-year-olds who have reached the age of consent but are still under the control of someone with authority over them, such as teachers. It's the abuse of authority that creates the crime. Children under the age of 16 are protected by child molestation laws, and this is an attempt to protect our older children. Hard to find much fault with the law.

Elsewhere in age-of consent news, Indiana's proposed legislation making "sexting" by Hoosier students a juvenile offense has been put off for a "summer study committee" review because of some unresolved issues:

Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council director Steve Johnson said that teens of legal age can have sex but the bill would make it a crime for them to exchange nude photos in certain cases. He says it was clear some policy issues had not been thought through.