In the wake of rape law reforms, lack of sexual consent emerged as a key element that defined sexual contact as criminal. Its presence modified the requirement of force or threat of violence, and it gained traction in campaigns to eradicate sexual assault. Little is known, however, about how prosecutors assess consent. In this article, I use the case of statutory rape to better understand the legal construction of sexual consent. By focusing on an age-based class of individuals who are sexually mature but still under the age of consent, I show how legal actors identify sexual victimization among youth. Drawing on interviews with forty-three prosecutors, I analyze prosecutorial decision making during the investigation, charging, and trial phases. I find that sexual consent is not simply a dichotomous legal category but rather a sociological process. Prosecutors define sexual victimization based on informal ideas about normative adolescent sexuality, reproducing social hierarchies based on age, gender, and sexual identity.

中文翻译：

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概念化同意：检察官如何识别法定强奸案中的性受害

在强奸法改革之后，缺乏性同意成为将性接触定义为犯罪的关键因素。它的存在改变了对武力或暴力威胁的要求，并在消除性侵犯的运动中获得了牵引力。然而，关于检察官如何评估同意，我们知之甚少。在本文中，我使用法定强奸案来更好地理解性同意的法律结构。通过关注基于年龄的性成熟但仍低于同意年龄的个体，我展示了法律行为者如何识别青少年中的性受害行为。通过对 43 名检察官的采访，我分析了调查、指控和审判阶段的起诉决策。我发现性同意不仅仅是一个二分法的法律类别，而是一个社会学过程。