RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, issues relating to the appropriate age for consensual sex, especially as it relates to minors, is fraught with emotion and controversy; and

WHEREAS, the issues are also part of a complex entanglement of other, often subjective, issues relating to family matters, personal privacy, moral and or cultural standards, physical and emotional health, and criminal conduct; and

WHEREAS, although few would argue that the protection of the emotional and physical well-being of minors should be a primary goal, there is much disagreement and differing viewpoints concerning how best to achieve this goal; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii has the lowest "age of consent," for purposes of avoiding prosecution under statutory rape provisions, of any state in the nation; and

WHEREAS, in Hawaii, a minor age fourteen or older may legally have consensual sex, whereas most states set the age higher at between sixteen to eighteen years of age; and

WHEREAS, during this Regular Session of 2001, approximately fifteen bills were introduced proposing various changes to the age of consent; and

WHEREAS, although several of these bills have survived first crossover, the difference of opinion over how best to approach this issue remains apparent; and

WHEREAS, even the American Bar Association's Center on Children and the Law, while recommending the protection of minors through the age of fifteen from consensual sexual intercourse with adults age twenty or older, nevertheless recommends that all relevant perspectives be represented on a jurisdiction wide task force to improve communications and understanding of the appropriate role of the criminal justice system with respect to the issue of minors engaging in consensual sexual relations; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, the Senate concurring, that the Attorney General is requested to convene a task force to engage in a comprehensive review of the issues, and the differing viewpoints, concerning the age of consent for consensual sex conduct, particularly as it relates to minors in sexual relationships with adult partners; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force is requested to include representatives from the Judiciary, the Department of Health, the Department of the Attorney General, the county prosecuting attorney's offices, the county police departments, the Commission on the Status of Women, the Sex Abuse Treatment Center, the Hawaii Family Forum, Sisters Offering Support, the military community in Hawaii, and the faith community in Hawaii; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of the Attorney General is requested to report the findings and conclusions of the task force to the Legislature not later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2002; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chief Justice, the Administrative Director of the Courts, the Director of Health, the county prosecuting attorneys, the chiefs of the county police departments, the Executive Director of the Commission on the Status of Women, the Director of the Sex Abuse Treatment Center, the Director of the Hawaii Family Forum, the Executive

Director of Sisters Offering Support, and to the Attorney General, who, in turn, is requested to transmit copies to representatives of the military community in Hawaii and the faith community in Hawaii.