Responding to Statutory Rape : Money has been well spent in punishing adult offenders

There is good reason to be concerned about the high number of teenage pregnancies and to discuss how to reduce the problem. It is also important to remember one fact that sometimes is overlooked: Sexual relations with minors outside marriage is a crime.

The disclosure in The Times last year that some county Social Services Agency workers were helping pregnant minors in their protection marry their adult sex partners or resume living with them was shocking. But it produced needed action.

The Orange County district attorney’s office, which charged 55 men with statutory rape in 1995, doubled that number last year. Of the 110 charged, 69 have pleaded guilty or been convicted, a prosecutor said. The remaining cases are still pending. State grants of more than $300,000 in the past year have allowed the district attorney’s office to step up its prosecutions. That is money well spent.

Orange County judges appear to have walked the proper line between punishing the offenders and destroying a family before it is formed. If the youngsters are not far apart in age and plan to be married, a lighter punishment usually is warranted than when the age disparity is great and there is no chance the couple will stay together.

In the past year, the district attorney’s office and several child-abuse prevention groups also have held training seminars at local hospitals. Those sessions have produced worthwhile reminders to hospital workers that under state law they are required to notify the Social Services Agency about their treatment of unmarried pregnant minors.

The Social Services Agency this year also changed its policy and barred social workers from recommending that under-age girls in the county’s protection, for reasons including being welfare recipients, marry their sex partners.

Teenagers who give birth usually do not intend to become pregnant. Early motherhood is a quick path to narrow future choices; school often is abandoned, career paths closed. Dropouts are more likely to require welfare help for sustained periods.

This month, the county Health Care Agency released a study on trends in births for the 10 years ending in 1993. It found that, in those 10 years, the number of births to girls 14 or younger was 585. Consider the long odds against success for a child born to a 14-year-old.

Criminal prosecutions are one reminder that sex between adults and minors is wrong. The problem of teenage pregnancies is too complex for simple solutions, but among the variety of responses required, taking offenders to court is a good idea.