My 15-year-old daughter has had sex with a 20-year-old male. My daughter has been taken advantage of, even though what they did appears to be consensual. Can this male be tried in court? This is in Alberta, Canada. PC

Yes. The age of consent in Canada is 16. Under that age she is, by law, incapable of consenting. He's a rapist.

Human beings differ mentally drastically. A 20 year old male could be raised differently, have less experiences, have less opinion, have less overall thought, than that of a 15 year old girl coming from a different family, school, and background. HOWEVER, legally, because the legal age of consent is 16, and your daughter is in fact under that age, by law, the 20 year old male may be tried in court, if charges are pressed against his honor. The system should never, EVER, be abused. If your daughter truly did consent to have sex with the 20 year old boy, and the 20 year old boy truly did not forcibly rape your daughter, then it is in my opinion, that counseling and/or therapy would be much more beneficial than ruining either of the young girl or young boy's lives. They both need to learn from a counselor or, responsible adult, what society has deemed appropriate, whether they know/knew at the time of the sexual act, or not. So, I think you should contact the boy's parents, and talk with them about the son getting therapy. Your daughter should also talk to someone, perhaps a school counselor, about what she did, and chose to do. Prison often turns a confused or relatively sane, relatively good young adult, into a mind-vault of experience talking to seasoned criminals, which can harm him more than help him. Thanks for reading.

Human beings differ mentally drastically.

I actually agree with you to a certain extent. There are many questions in such a situation. But those questions should be resolved by a police investigation. The parents should report this to the police.