I feel sorry for these guys. I mean, what they've done is clearly wrong and they deserve what the justice system gives them, but I seriously doubt that all of them are the evil, lascivious wolves that some here are making them out to be. Some of them surely are, but not all. There is a big difference, in my mind at least, between a man who rapes or assaults a young child and a man who has an "innappropriate relationship" with a 17 year old girl.

That said, what they've done is surely criminal. They will spend the rest of their lives with that weight around their necks even after their prison sentences are up. Not to mention the alleged treatment that sexual criminals get in prison...

But I'd like to point out that it takes two to... tango.. and that anyone who acts like this 17 year old girl is some innocent victim who was deceived and manipulated into this relationship against her will had better get real. Most of the people commenting here were not puritans at age 17 and should be able to agree with me on that one. At 17 most kids are sexually active or have been to some capacity, and are able to make very clear judgments about physical relationships.

I think that trials in cases like this should take into account the consent of the "victim" even though she may be a few months shy of the arbitrary age of consent. If she pursued and enabled the relationship then she should be held responsible as well -and for that matter, so should her parents.

Our society is becoming increasingly hypersexualized and sexual barriers are less apparent than they have ever been. This relates to all sorts of sexual issues. All it takes is one viewing of a prime time program on the ABC "Family" Channel to understand how teenage sexuality is marketed and sold to the viewer. We allow networks to broadcast scantily clad 17 year olds (or actresses depicting them) in all sorts of sexual contexts on prime time, family television -and then we say that this teacher should be "thrown in a hole and left there?"

Once again, we display our propensity for attacking the branches and ignoring the roots of the problem.

Our society has long fed the fetish for youthfulness and both men and women spend millions of dollars trying to look young. Parents treat their highschool-aged children like adults, allow their sons to sow their wild oats and allow daughters to drive to school dressed a half-step up from prostitutes. I heard an 8 or 9 year old girl at the park the other day tell her friend she looked sexy.

If we want to reduce the frequency of this type of crime, then we have to do more than just label every poor lonely sap of a teacher with a broken marriage who gives-in to temptation a SEXUAL PREDATOR (or worse). We have to address the broken sexuality of our culture beginning with the parents. Standards of dress and decorum in schools need to be raised. Standards concerning the types of sexual context involving minors on tv and in movies need to be raised. Parents need to be responsible about what they allow their young children to see and hear and partake of. I'm not talking about isolating them or homeschooling or anything like that. I just think that good parenting can go a long way toward preventing a tempting situation from ever arising. And I think that all Americans need to take some of the blame when we hear about a grown man pursuing a sexual relationship with what our legal system calls a child.

My thought, actually my fear, is that this is happening alot more than the disclosures we're aware of from the news.

I think there's many things in play here--the traditional weak middle-aged male wanting something 'more exciting', the sexing-up' of everything we see in the media, and quite honestly, online porn (no, I'm not advocating government regulation, but it probably is a factor in these male adult-teenage girl relationships).

You know, I take my son to the YMCA pool in the summer, and these girls look and often act way beyond their years. Factor that in with a man with an unhappy home life if he's married or lonely personal life if he's single, a girl who craves attention she's not getting from her parents, and problems begin. I'd also venture to guess many of these girls have divorced parents, live with their mother, and have at best a part-time relationship with Dad.

At the end of the day, though, it's the adult who has to have the strength to back away and that's all there is to it.

Secondly, what kind of person who is 30-something years old (male or female) tries to pursue a sexual relationship with someone nearly half their age and almost pre-pubescent?