Also, sexual interaction with minors is not as bad as murder. Although there are many cases where it is very harmful, especially in societies where sexuality is invested with so much fear and guilt, there are also instances where the child would not consider it to be something that ruined his or her life or contributed to long lasting emotional distress. This probably includes the bulk of consensual activities between adults and teenagers.

Well said, Mike8787. Punishment and persecution of pedophiles and ephebophiles is much closer to this country's paranoid reaction to the perceived threat of homosexuals than it is to any legitimate judicial policy we might have concocted to deal with the real problems of child exploitation. One of the problems is that we use terms like pedophile to describe too broad a spectrum of people, from those who are naturally sexually oriented towards minors (not a crime) to those rape and abduct to gain sadistic pleasure (criminal). Our policies reflect a fear that the people in the first category are morally weak and liable to do all sorts of terrible things, which is just what was said about homosexuals in the 50s.