Note 689 — Chapter XVIII · PROBLEMS OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY

Up to fourteen carnally knowing a girl is rape, punishable by death or imprisonment for not less than five years, at the discretion of the jury: Rev. Stat. (1899), I, 547. Between fourteen and eighteen, not only must the girl be "of previously chaste character"—which begs the whole question—but the penalty is ridiculously light: imprisonment in the penitentiary for two years; or a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $500; or confinement in the county jail not less than one month nor more than six months or both such fine and confinement: Laws (1895), 149; also in Rev. Stat. (1899), I, 547. Cf. Rev. Stat. (1889), I, 850; Gardener, in Arena, XIV, 31.