What's the Matter With Kansas?
Published: August 31, 2005
Matthew Koso, 22, and his wife Crystal, 14, are the parents of a newborn baby and the center of a controversy in their hometown, Falls City, Neb. The couple apparently started dating when Crystal was 12, and after she became pregnant, they crossed over into Kansas, where it is legal for even preteen girls to get married, and tied the knot. The Nebraska attorney general, Jon Bruning, has charged Mr. Koso with statutory rape. But he says a vast majority of the people who have written in to comment on the case say that Mr. Koso did the right thing and that the only fault here lies with the prosecutor, whom they see as a home-wrecker.
The Koso marriage is indeed legal, and that is the fault of the Kansas State Legislature, which should heed a call by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and raise the age as soon as it reconvenes in January. Kansas is not the only state that has failed to fix antiquated laws permitting 14-year-old boys to marry 12-year-old girls if the parents permit; several states, including Massachusetts, have laws that are nearly as ridiculous.