<p>I recall reading that their “relationship” began when she was 21 and just ended like a year ago. Also, she was the product of a previous marriage.</p>
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Whose? His or his wife’s? If she was an adopted daughter, then it’s even more complex.</p>
<p>Hillbillies in Morningside Heights. Now that’s diversity.</p>
<p>I get really confused when i read this thread. Let’s get real here. Incest is a crime! Incest is a horrific crime, it is just plain wrong, period! Regardless who is committing this crime, he/she should be prosecuted. As a parent, you should respect, support, protect and love your child unconditionally. This is not about elites, NYPD, Columbia University, diversity or whatever. This is about a person who got molested and will have scars for the rest of her life. Nothing else matters. I hope this guy goes to jail.</p>
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<p>Yes, it’s a crime under NY law to have consensual for adult half-siblings to have sex with each other. Consensual gay sex was a crime under many states’ laws in the year 2000, as were oral and anal sex. It was a crime for a black man to marry a white woman in many states for much of the 20th century.</p>
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<p>Despite determining that it’s a crime, NY doesn’t feel that it’s a horrific crime. It’s the lowest possible grade felony.</p>
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<p>Sure, it’s nasty and sick. Not everything nasty and sick is a crime, though.</p>
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<p>Sounds like our dear Professor Epstein “loved” his child!</p>
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<p>He doesn’t belong in jail on taxpayer expense. But if the allegations are true, his wives might have been justified to go Lorena Bobbit on him.</p>
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<p>Ha.</p>
<p>Seriously though, I think the only reason he should go to jail – despite his actions being depraved beyond most of our understanding – is if this had started back when she was a minor and he had been grooming her for a while (that happens sometimes). Consensual adult incest, while repulsive and unhealthy (psychologically, as well as the possible genetic repercussions if they have any pre-existing histories) isn’t really something that the state can regulate effectively.</p>
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<p>This is a slippery slope. First off, how do we determine who has more power when incest happens? In parent-child incest, is it always the parent? Can the middle-aged child have more power if the parent is really old? Who has more power in sibling incest – the older sibling? the male sibling (what if it’s a gay sibling incest)? Second, why isn’t any sexual relationship non-consensual if one partner has more power than the other?</p>
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<p>You raise a good point that he could have been “grooming” her when she was a minor even though the allegations are that she was an adult when the sexual relationship took place. That would make it all the more sick. But it would be impossible to criminalize and prosecute that sort of behavior.</p>
<p>I think you’d have to know more facts to really understand this. You might feel differently about this under the following two scenarios:</p>
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<li><p>This is his own biological child, and the abuse started when she was 10 years old, and happened repeatedly.</p></li>
<li><p>This is the child of his wife, not him, and he doesn’t even know her that well. This happened only once, after they got drunk while watching TV, and he doesn’t even remember it.</p></li>
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<p>Both bad, but not the same.</p>
<p>How can you be so f****** stupid. There is a clear difference between molestation and consentual relations. Now, I am not adovcating incest, because I admit it is rather disgusting, but to criminalize consentual relations between <em>adults</em>, is utterly rediculous. This was not forced. This was NOT molestation. Now if it turns out this relationship has been going on since before she was a legal adult, I revert all my opinions and OF COURSE the man should be prosecuted. Otherwise, it is taboo, it is not a crime.</p>