ATLANTA - Health teachers have long warned teens that they risk becoming pregnant or contracting diseases if they are sexually active. A few are adding a new lesson: Have sex and you're breaking the law.
Pop culture might be filled with images of promiscuous high schoolers, but in many states it's still illegal for them to actually have sex, even if they're close in age. And although legal experts say it's rare for prosecutors to seek charges, they can and sometimes do.
A timely example is Genarlow Wilson, the Georgia man serving a 10-year prison sentence for receiving oral sex from a 15-year-old girl. Georgia lawmakers have softened the law prosecutors used to sentence Wilson, but they didn't erase the criminal penalty altogether. It's still a misdemeanor.
"We do a disgraceful job of educating kids about the very real consequences that they face," said former DeKalb County District Attorney J. Tom Morgan, who has a new book coming out called "Ignorance Is No Defense: A Teenager's Guide to Georgia Law."
Across the country, ages of consent range from 14 to 18. An increasing number of states have moved to create so-called Romeo and Juliet exceptions that keep teens from facing harsh jail time and registering as sex offenders if they are just a few years apart in age.
But the patchwork of laws and ages leaves many confused, and critics say more education is badly needed.
"If society is going to punish them as adults," said Morgan, "then society ought to educate them."
Information on precisely what sex education classes are teaching is hard to come by. Few classes inspire more controversy, and the curriculum is largely left up to local districts.
Monica Rodriguez, the vice president for education and training at the Sexuality Informational and Education Council of the United States, said she's encountered few classes that teach age-of-consent laws.
Not surprisingly, the topic appears to be catching on the fastest in schools that receive federal funding for abstinence-from-sex education programs.
Valerie Huber, the executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association, said districts that receive the federal funds are encouraged to teach age-of-consent laws as part of their classes.
The coordinator of federal abstinence funds in Georgia said it's a requirement for participating schools in the Peach State.
Kim Muns knows all too well where ignorance can lead.
Her son Chad was arrested at age 17 for having sexual intercourse with his 14-year-old girlfriend. Although the girlfriend's family asked prosecutors not to pursue charges against Muns, he was arrested in July 2003.
Muns faced a choice similar to Wilson's: plead guilty to a lesser charge or face a possible 10-year sentence for aggravated child molestation. He opted for the plea, served 2 years behind bars and will be on probation for 17 years. He's now a student at Georgia Southern University and is on the sex offender registry.
Shocked by what happened to her son, Muns began pressing for more education on the laws.
State Rep. Ed Setzler, an Acworth Republican, took up her cause and pushed a bill in 2005 that would have required schools to teach students about the laws under which they could be tried as an adult, including sex laws.
The measure passed the Georgia House but failed in the Senate. A watered-down version of the measure was approved that offers information about the laws to parents in hopes they share it with their children.
KNOW WHAT'S LEGAL
Most teens - and even many parents - are unaware that consensual teenage sex is often a crime. To learn more about the laws regarding teens, log on to: www.my5th.org.
Age of consent: The age of consent, the age at which a person becomes legally competent to consent to sex, varies from state to state.
In Georgia, the age of consent is 16.
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