Second Spears Successfully Speared

This is why I am unprofessional.

Jamie Lynn Spears pregnancy raises legal questions

* Story Highlights
* Experts say there is a disparity in how statutory rape laws are applied
* Jamie Lynn Spears is 16, and her boyfriend -- the father of her child -- is 18
* There has been no talk of criminal prosecution involving the couple
* Experts: Attorneys choose when to prosecute, leading to unfairness

(CNN) -- The announced pregnancy of Jamie Lynn Spears -- the 16-year-old children's television star and younger sister of beleaguered pop star Britney Spears -- is casting new light on how states deal with the thorny issue of consensual sex among teens.

Spears, the star of Nickelodeon's "Zoey 101," told OK! Magazine that she's pregnant and that the father is her 18-year-old boyfriend.

There has been no public talk of criminal prosecution in the case. Consensual sex between the two may well have been legal, depending on where and when it took place.

But critics of the nation's statutory rape laws say that laws that are ignored in some cases can be used to put other teens in prison and land them on sex-offender registries.

"You have a disturbing disparity in how these laws are enforced," said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University. "I have no problem at all with nailing adults who sleep with children, but I have a problem with the prosecution of teenagers in consensual relationships.

"What this case should focus the nation on is having a more evenhanded approach to these cases."

He has no problem nailing adults who sleep with children? Dude...standards, man.

Nail the child-rapist, not the child, I guess.

I swear I'm, like, twelve.