Originally Posted by
mooboy76
I dug a little deeper just to be sure.
Age of consent for girls has been 16 in Alabama since 1923, unless the boy was also under 16. It was an offence to have, or abuse to attempt to gain, carnal knowledge of a girl 12-16 (Alabama Code 1923, § 5411) There was a separate, concurrent, offence when the girls were under 12, but with relic provisions for 10-14 (Alabama Code 1923, § 5410). Both were valid offences on the books.
Under 16 was reaffirmed in the Code of Alabama 1975 under the new title and chapter that it is listed under today. § 13A-6-70
Maybe the relatives were thinking of the one offence, but were not aware of the other.