"To Protect the Chastity of Children under Sixteen": Statutory Rape Prosecutions in a Midwest County Circuit Court, 1850-1950

Abstract

Historically, statutory rape law protected victims of underage rape even when there was evidence of consent. This statute funda mentally contradicted the legal and social standards for rape, which required that a woman show evidence of resistance to prove her case, and then questioned that resistance. However, as the records for Ingham County, Michigan, demonstrate, authorities did not readily or consistently uphold this distinction, despite statute law. Indeed, statutory rape charges for 1850-1950 reflect the legal community's responses to evolving definitions of female adolescence and male sexual imperatives during a time of rapid population growth, industrial ization, and economic diversification. Between 1850 and 1950, justices of the peace in Ingham County heard 544 sex-crime cases, 326 (59.9%) which involved statutory rape charges. Of the remainder, 40 (7.4%) were for forcible rape, 74 (13.6%) were for assault with intent to rape, and 104 (19.1%) were for indecent liberties. These statistics reveal an extraordinary focus at the pre-trial level on complaints of sexual intercourse with girls below the age of consent, and only minimal concern with complaints made by women of consensual age. What motivated the attention given statutory rape cases, and how does it relate to current?often problematic?social and legal interpretations of underage rape? Transcripts and other documents from the 544 Ingham County cases reveal that pre-trial examinations were conducted very much like trials, with prosecuting attorneys arguing for the plaintiffs on behalf of The People and defense attorneys arguing for the defendants. Although the trial transcripts are (with two exceptions) not available, it seems safe to assume that the preliminary examinations were similar in content to the trials that followed them. Pre-trial transcripts show