06/03/2026
Thank you to Senator Joan for continuing to . Marblehead town leaders pivoted away from addressing s*xual assault at the high school, despite expressing support for the initiatives.
Our view:
No excuse for not closing loophole on child s*x abuse
Jun 1, 2026
Senator Joan B. Lovely is not giving up.
The Salem Democrat in recent weeks attached an amendment to the Senate version of next year’s budget that would close a gaping loophole in state law and better protect teens and children from predatory adults.
The measure, which met with approval from her colleagues, stipulates that people under the age of 18 would be unable to legally consent to s*x with an adult “who holds, or has held, supervisory or custodial authority over them” in a school setting or other context.
The aim of the proposed law is to prevent teachers and other authority figures from claiming consent after they groomed students while they were underage.
“Once a young person turns 16, they are presumed legally capable of consenting to s*xual activity, even with an adult in a position of supervisory or custodial authority, who may have groomed or manipulated them over months or years,’ Lovely said. “This is the loophole. A 16- or 17-year-old student cannot consent to having s*x with their teacher. A teenage athlete cannot consent to having s*x with their coach.”
She emphasized, “Power and trust make true consent impossible.”
Because of the loophole, it has been difficult for district attorneys to press charges because state law doesn’t recognize “the inherent power imbalance,” she said.
The issue has been in the public consciousness of late due to the publicity surrounding alleged instances of s*xual abuse at Miss Hall’s School for Girls in Pittsfield. Two women have come forward in recent years to say a teacher there groomed them for s*x while they were young students.
That is, however, far from the only case.
“The headlines have not stopped,” Lovely said during the Senate debate. “Across all of Massachusetts, we are seeing horrific stories of s*xual abuse in schools.”
Lovely said 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 16 boys under 18 are s*xually abused or assaulted. The numbers jump to 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 9 boys when online experiences are included, she said.
Under Lovely’s proposal, the abuse would be a crime even if the adult is no longer in a supervisory role at the time of the offense. It also calls for a 20-year sentence for r**e and as many as 10 years for abuse.
Additionally the proposal adds “these new offenses to the definitions underlying the s*x offender registry, ensuring these crimes are captured and tracked.”
If this all sounds familiar, it is because Lovely has been working for more than a decade to close the loophole surrounding predatory teachers and other authority figures. None of the bills she or others have filed have made it to a final vote.
That’s a shameful legacy for the Legislature – one it can put in the past if the House accepts Lovely’s amendment and sends it on to Gov. Maura Healey for her signature.
There’s no reason that shouldn’t happen. And if the House negotiators don’t include the measure in its version of the budget, they need to explain why.
State Sen. Joan Lovely is not giving up.
