...but you're still mixing things up.

many here percive, and rightfully so, that some adult-child sexual relationships are consentual ...they take the stance that they wouldnt do anything about a *potentially* abusive relationship because it *may* be consentual.

I do not think most people here think like this. What they are saying is that there are many times when a relationship IS consentual and it gets treated like rape and abuse when it was really NOT. So, in these cases if we vote the guy should get life or be killed, we have condemned a man unfairly.

You have to take what you read in the media with a grain of salt. They call all contact with anyone under 18 "abuse" and rape. ALL of it my man, and this is wrong.

We do know that real abuse happens. No-one is saying to ignore real abuse. What we are saying is that it is NOT fair to automatically assume it is abuse.

Like I said, I really believe about 50% of the cases are consentual and about 50% are not. I do not think that MORE of the cases are really abuse. As BB said, the ones that are consentual are NEVER heard about and the ones that are NOT are the ones that get the media coverage.

i dunno, it just seems wrong to assume consent first...

I agree, and hope I've explained it well enough for you. We're NOT assuming that, but we're not closing the door on it. You can't just assume it wasn't consentual either. You have to take it on a case by case basis with an open mind, realizing that it could be either. Prejudging the situation doesn't help.