There’s been a lot of debate as to whether Casey Aldridge, who is thought to be 19, can be brought up on statutory rape charges for getting his 16 year-old maybe-ex girlfriend, Jamie Lynn Spears, pregnant. I found three articles on this subject today and they predictably vary widely in their assessment of the possibility of prosecution for Casey. It depends how old he really is, with some reports saying he’s just 18, and where the baby was conceived, with Louisiana having tougher statutory rape laws. It seems that it’s not likely that he’ll be charged, but since this is such a high profile case there may be pressure from authorities.

Statutory rape laws have the potential for abuse when applied to consensual sex among teens, most notably in the recent case of a Georgia teen whose harsh sentence was eventually overturned. Genarlow Wilson spent two years in jail out of a mandatory ten year sentence for having consensual oral sex with a 15 year old girl at a party when he was just 17. The law was changed after widespread public pressure and he was finally freed this October.

So while a sexual relationship between a 19 year-old boy and a 16 year-old girl is technically illegal, it was consensual and there’s a fine line in these type of cases.

Here are the different legal and personal opinions in the news on this case today.

The Daily Mail: Casey could get up to 10 years in jail

The boyfriend of Jamie Lynn Spears could face statutory rape charges after getting Britney Spears’ sister pregnant at 16, it has been revealed.

And Casey Aldridge, 19, could face up to 10 years if convicted, possibly with hard labour.

Fox News reports that if the baby was conceived in Spears’ home state of Louisiana, the act could technically be considered “felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile.”

Louisiana law defines this unlawful carnal knowledge as “sexual intercourse with consent between someone age 19 or older and someone between age 12 and 17.”

In Louisiana a person can only legally consent to sex at age 17. If aged 15 or 16, the other person involved must be no more than two years older for the act to be considered legal.

But Aldridge wouldn’t fare much better if the “carnal” act happened in California, where Spears lives while on the set of her Nickelodeon TV show Zoey 101.

The Californian Penal Code states that any person who engages in an act of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor under 18 who is not more than three year younger than the perpetrator, is guilty of a misdemeanour and faces up to one year in a county jail.

But Californian criminal defence attorney Jim Hammer says: “If Aldridge is actually more than three years older he could be up for a felony, which carries a maximum three years in prison.”

US Weekly: It’s possible he could be charged, but Lousiana authorities aren’t looking into it

Jamie Lynn Spears’ pregnancy, at age 16, has raised legal questions because of Casey Aldridge’s age.

Aldridge is believed to be 18 or 19.

There is still no word on where the sexual intercourse took place.

However, if it happened in Spears’ home state of Louisiana, and if Aldridge was 19 at the time, he could be charged with what the state calls “felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile,” which is defined as “sexual intercourse with consent between someone age 19 or older and someone between age 12 and 17.”

If he was under 19, then he might be charged with a misdemeanor. Laws vary from state-to-state.

A spokeswoman for the local sheriff’s department in Kentwood, Louisiana, told Baton Rouge’s WAFB-TV that no complaint has been filed in the case and “no criminal investigation is currently underway.”

CNN: It’s not likely he’ll be charged and statutory rape charges should not be applied to consensual sex between teens

Spears, the star of Nickelodeon’s “Zoey 101,” told OK! Magazine that she’s pregnant and that the father is her 18-year-old boyfriend.

There has been no public talk of criminal prosecution in the case. Consensual sex between the two may well have been legal, depending on where and when it took place.

But critics of the nation’s statutory rape laws say that laws that are ignored in some cases can be used to put other teens in prison and land them on sex-offender registries.

“You have a disturbing disparity in how these laws are enforced,” said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University. “I have no problem at all with nailing adults who sleep with children, but I have a problem with the prosecution of teenagers in consensual relationships.

“What this case should focus the nation on is having a more evenhanded approach to these cases…”

B.J. Bernstein, [Genarlow] Wilson’s attorney, argued throughout his case that Wilson was imprisoned for an act that, while perhaps morally questionable, probably is going on among teens everywhere.

“If you prosecuted, even with misdemeanors, all those cases, you’d clog up the justice system with kids having sex,” she said. “It’s a social issue — and it may be something that parents don’t want to happen or wish wouldn’t happen at that age — but it shouldn’t be a crime.”

So it seems that unless someone wants to make an example of Casey, nothing will happen in this case. Authorities deny that they’re even looking into it, and while the relationship may seem creepy and inappropriate to some, it doesn’t mean the older party should spend time behind bars. He does seem too old to be in a relationship with such a young girl. We’ll have to see if they’re still together and if he ever speaks out about Jamie Lynn’s pregnancy. It’s just a sad case and will hopefully serve the purpose of helping parents realize that they need to speak to their children about these issues before it’s too late.