Our take: Miss Hall’s school scandal calls for reexamination of state sexual consent laws | editorials

Can a 16-year-old high school student really consent to having sex with his teacher?

For many, including this editorial board, the obvious ethical answer would be no. However, general Massachusetts laws, which set the age of consent at 16 with no exceptions for relationships between minors and those in positions of authority over them, say otherwise.

We share the community’s concern about the disturbing dissonance highlighted by the sex abuse scandal at Miss Hall’s school. Several former students at the all-girls private school in Pittsfield have come forward with credible allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct by Matthew Rutledge, a longtime history teacher, guidance counselor and coach at the school.

After a months-long investigation, the Berkshire District Attorney’s office announced last week that Mr. Rutledge will not face criminal charges in Massachusetts.

“While the alleged conduct is deeply disturbing, it is not illegal,” Berkshire District Attorney Timothy Shugrue said in a statement.

As a lawyer representing one of Mr. Rutledge’s accusers pointed out to The Eagle, the prosecutor should not be guilty of following the law. That’s his job, including in the most difficult situations like this where the letter of the law unfortunately clashes with our moral intuitions.

But it is our duty as concerned citizens to ask whether the state’s consent statute reasonably represents our society’s values ​​and protects its most vulnerable members. A comparison with the law where a state suggests room for improvement. While Mr. Rutledge does not face criminal charges here, he still could in neighboring Connecticut. (Also, Mr. Rutledge faces a civil lawsuit with charges including assault and battery filed by one of his accusers in Berkshire Superior Court.)

An accuser alleges that in addition to his conduct at Miss Hall’s in Pittsfield, he also sexually abused her in her hometown of Wilton, Conn., while visiting her and her family. While the age of consent is 16, as in Massachusetts and 28 other states, Connecticut state law provides an exclusion for abuse of a minor student by an authoritative adult.

This seems sensible. In our view, a 16- or 17-year-old cannot, in any meaningful or moral sense, consent to a sexual relationship with an adult who has disciplinary and classification authority over them. The understandable community outrage at the legal outcome of this scandal, at least on this side of the state line, suggests we’re far from alone in holding this view. Legislators representing these shocked citizens of Berkshire should take a close look at the law that left a prosecutor unable to prosecute the alleged years-long sexual conduct of a trusted educator, who most admit was ” deeply disturbing”. Because now, our state’s legal system condones this kind of egregious behavior in spaces where young people should be educated and nurtured, not used and abused.

To be sure, we should be wary of reshaping general laws because of a singular scandal. In this case, however, a viable alternative to a troubling status quo exists right next door for careful study. Connecticut’s specific exception—which raises the age of consent when one party has a position of supervision, power, or authority over the other—does not appear to have been disruptive while building an important protection for minors. Massachusetts shouldn’t necessarily copy and paste Connecticut’s statute, but it’s at least worth examining as a way to strengthen state law so it can hold accountable those who abuse positions of power over students that aren’t even close enough big to buy a pack of cigarettes.

Connecticut state law specifically recognizes how problematic this behavior is and how harmful it is to vulnerable youth. There is no reason why the general laws of Massachusetts cannot do the same. We hope this sad scandal prompts the Berkshire delegation and Beacon Hill leadership to address this issue at the start of a new legislative session next year.