Note 703 — Chapter XVIII · PROBLEMS OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY

The Code of Ala. (1897), 460, punishes the abuse of a girl below fourteen, at the discretion of the jury, either by death or by not less than ten years in prison; but an act of 1897, also in the Code, punishes carnal knowledge of a female between ten and fourteen only by a fine of $50 to $500, and the offender "may be imprisoned in the county jail for six months." This provision appears to reduce the protection of a child above ten to little more than a pretense: Acts (1897), 944.