Basic facts: 16 year old boy and 17 year old girl are watching a movie (girl is at her friend's house who is on the phone in another room). Girl says she fell asleep and woke up with boy touching her breasts and panties (first says inside, then later says outside only, but he only stopped because he wasn't getting anywhere).

Boy says she had a crush on him (which girl has confirmed) which was not reciprocated. She scooted up to him on the couch, put her head on his shoulder and held his hand--at one point across her chest and at another in her lap. He afterward sent her an e-mail that says something along the lines of "I'm sorry for what happened" and "don't let me add to your boy troubles" so I tend to believe that's not all there is to it. There seems to be something else that has happened to this girl that her parents hint at, but don't really say--some previous incident of abuse or something.

This case was originally investigated as a sexual assault because the girl's parents were adamant that their daughter was "molested" and the girl has had some serious issues getting over this ordeal.

Now it has been filed as a Class C--and I don't even think it meets those elements?? If I can't disprove that the boy reasonably thought his advances were acceptable, Class C wouldn't work either--would it? Basically, at this point we are alleging an unwarranted groping.

It's hard to tell if this girl is really victimized or if she is upset that he didn't like her--there are a few e-mails back and forth where she says "there was no love in this" and "I know I let him but I was scared".

Part of me thinks...well, young girls have to learn to stand up for themselves and say no when they are uncomfortable (which this one did not, she says because she was scared) and not standing up for yourself is not someone else's criminal act.

But on the other hand if there was a criminal offense I want to help her feel vindicated as best as I can. Both kids and families have become very involved in this situation and feel it's a serious situation--as much on a religious level than anything. And maybe this boy was very out of line in his expectations.

Unfortunately, if she didn't stop him because she was hoping he would like her after the fact (she sent an e-mail that said alluded to this to the sister/friend) then she's not a victim--she just feels like one!

What do ya'll do with these???

How about letting him take some sort of awareness or sexual harassment class (don't know what's available) and dropping it upon successful completion, assuming of course that your victim is ok with that. You do have a tough set of facts!

Why not let the grand jury tell you what the community thinks about those facts?

If she invited the conduct and consented to it, there is nothing to prosecute.

And if you're not even convinced, what makes you think that a jury of six will be as well? Seems like a waste of time. Buyer's remorse does not translate into criminal conduct.

Even assuming the boy crossed the line of decency somewhere (and it sounds to me like he did), not every "bad act" is a crime.

Of course, in an increasingly relativistic society where traditional mores are discarded in favor of the siren song of individual liberty (without responsibility) and freedom (for me but not for thee), those lines of decency that were once enforced outside the courtroom by culture and community are disappearing because there is no longer a higher authority (outside of the government) to which an aggrieved person can turn to for redress or deterrence. Not churches (too dispersed, too empty, or too hesitant), not schools (they pass the buck to avoid lawsuits), not neighbors (who are they?), not any of the traditional non-penal enforcers of community standards -- they've all yielded their moral authority for one reason or another over the past several decades.

The result is that people still know or feel that certain acts "ain't right," but they no longer have the ability to enforce reasonable restrictions or remedy transgressions through extra-judicial means, so they have increasingly resorted to the Penal Code, etc., to seek a solution. And a mighty unsatisfying one at that, in some cases.

(And yes, I know this is an oversimplification and/or amplification of the problem on many levels, but exaggerating the weight of the elephant in the room doesn't mean there still isn't a big-ass pachyderm in the room!)

On a perhaps more helpful note, if it's a religious issue to the girl's family and if the two parties attend the same church, maybe there's something that can be done from that perspective within that community. Otherwise, I'm out of easy solutions.

I think Shannon summed it up succinctly.

Thanks for the input, all!