The Note examines the dilemma of statutory rape in light of the recent nationwide trend toward stricter statutory rape laws and increased enforcement activity. Part 1 contains a brief historical overview of statutory rape laws, focusing on the changing normative goals underlying the laws in different historical contexts. Part 2 locates the origins of current legislative and enforcement trends in the recent movement to reform the U.S. welfare system. Part 3 surveys various States’ legislative and enforcement efforts to “get tough” on statutory rape. Part 4 examines some of the analytical difficulties presented by stricter statutory rape laws and their aggressive enforcement, specifically: teens’ capacity for consent and the role teens should play in the prosecution decision; the privacy and substantive due process rights of both teens and offenders; and the practical needs of parenting teens. Part 5 explores the inherent problems and paradoxes in the current legislative and enforcement trends, particularly the conflicting goals of aggressively punitive policies; the disconnect between the law in theory and the law as it is applied; and the fact that stricter laws and policies are unlikely to have a significant effect. These findings suggest reconsidering whether to have statutory rape laws at all. Notes