A former U.S. diplomat who was arrested and convicted of having sex with underage girls aged 14-17 as well as video taping the encounters in the Congo and Brazil is asking the judge for leniency because his actions are culturally acceptable in some countries.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25627617/

my specific thoughts on this are such that the person must be held accountable to his country's legislative standards.

generally speaking though, i feel and understand that the idea of sexual abuse itself is not about the age restriction as much as is is about predatory behavior, non-consensual sexual activity, power and robbing a person of any age of their human right to self-possession and a breach of their human right to self determination.

anywhere non-consensual sex occurs a crime against the person occurs that elicits rippling effects which immutably change the currency of their life, and demolishes their right to decide for themselves who they will or will not chose to become.

leniency? how about castration? is that lenient enough?

Mike Lew does dedicate a portion of his book to saying that sexual abuse is definined on a culture by culture basis.