It was legal to marry a 12-yr-old in Virginia, new law makes it criminal

Viginia: Up until last week, it was legal for an adult man to marry a 12 or 13-year-old girl in the state of Virginia, if the man had the consent of the child's parent. State authorities have however introduced a new law that makes it illegal for men to marry girls who are under 18.

According to a report in the Independent, the new law took effect last Friday and takes parents out of the decision making process.

Statistics in the report show that close to 4,500 children were married between the years 2004 and 2013 in Virginia and that more than 200 girls were 15 or under when they entered into wedlock.

Many campaigners had been fighting to get the laws updated and said that the new law will help stop child abuse, human trafficking and statutory rape in the disguise of marriage.

There have been many cases, where men who had raped a minor or teenager, would escape investigation by marrying their victims. With the new law, sexual predators cannot get away with their crime.

Earlier this year, YouTuber Coby Persin conducted a social experiment in the bustling city of New York to see how people would react upon witnessing a child marriage and to raise awareness against it.

An older man poses with a 'child bride' in New York. ()

In the video, that went viral, two actors posing as a 65-year-old groom and his 12-year-old bride get their pictures clicked together in Times Square. Coby plays the role of their wedding photographer and a hidden camera captures the reactions of onlookers.

The people's reactions ranged from shock, disgust to pure outrage. One woman was even seen wiping away a tear when witnessing the scene. Fortunately most of them gave a piece of their mind to the 'groom' and even threatened to take police action against him.

The video ended on a heartrending note saying that everyday around 33,000 girls are married as children and suffer horrendous violation of human rights.

The laws for marriage vary from one state to another in the US and there are still some states where it is legal for men to marry minor girls as young as 12.