Indeed. As it should be. But if you are doing an RP centered around some type of raids and you want to highlight the fact that the raiders don't care overmuch about the age of their "playmates", then simply say so, just don't describe it. Use it as a vague tool to inspire the raiders' opponents to go do what they need to do to stop the raiders.

On the racism note, its fairly easy to avoid that. Speciesism is far more fun. Instead of the black fighting the white, they team up against the green.

EDIT:
Huh. We were curious, so we looked it up:

[quote=Wikipedia]Each U.S. state (and the District of Columbia) has its own age of consent. Currently state laws set the age of consent at 16, 17, or 18. The most common age is 16.

age of consent 16 (31): 
[indent]Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia[/indent]
age of consent 17 (8):
[indent]Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, Texas, Wyoming[/indent]
age of consent 18 (12):
[indent]Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin[/indent]
[/quote]