I think I would add that justice for women is not a big deal in ancient time. If you kill a cow, the law would consider the owner of the cow as the victim of your crime. Asking what would be justice for the cow would just seem strange. But we would alienate bovine votes? Well, bovine can't votes anyway. Nor can they lift sword and pick different king.
The same way, if you rape or mate with a girl (consent doesn't even change the penalty), the law think that the parent or the husband of the girl is the victim. That would alienate female voters you said? Well tough. Whoever makes laws that time don't seem to concern themselves too much with females' votes.
I think most answers miss a few points here. Basically it helps to see torah not as "our scripture" but a scripture of some ancient nomadic tribe. We will get a far more objective pictures of what's going on.
- In Ancient time, the daughter is the property of his dad. Some americans still "feel" that way as comically presented here http://9gag.com/gag/a5KAA3O
- Female consent matters much less than marital status (and still do in
modern time in the eyes of many people). Till recently, for example, marital rape is legal in US while consensual prostitution is not. Here approval from the state (you're married) is seen to be more important than approval from the girl (sure let's have sex for money)
- Sex outside marriage is often (not always with arguable exceptions) seen as crimes against either the father of the girl or the husband.
- There is no jail punishment in ancient time. You kidding? What? Some nomadic tribe paying $33k per year putting people in maximum security prison? Punishment in ancient time is either death, torture, beating, or fine. Fine seems to be the most reasonable ones. Punishments are usually "cheap" for the states.
- Polygamy is legal. So a rich man that wants another girl didn't have to divorce his first wife. Worse come to worse he'll just grab another one. Financial fine greatly cripples a man's ability to just get too many girls.
- If the man have to pay a huge fine for raping a woman and he cannot pay the fine, he can't just declare bankruptcy. What happens is that guy can end up becoming a slave. So having to pay fine, which seems to be like a misdemeanor nowadays, are actually a pretty serious punishment in ancient time.
So if a man have sex with a girl that's not his wife the first think the bible's writer think about in ancient time is not "is this consensual?". The first think the ancient people think about is what is her marital status? That is why the verse is not clear whether it addresses rape or not because it doesn't matter. Who is the victim here? The parent for not getting the bride price, or the husband for potentially end up supporting someone else' children.
If you want to know more about biblical society just look at contemporary muslim society. They are pretty similar. Many muslims would honor kill their daughter. They do not feel guilty about it because they think it's like destroying their own property anyway. The same way, females that don't "behave" gets killed in ancient hebrew society because they are just properties.
The penalty for having sex with unmarried girl is the bride price. Roughly 50 shekels.
If a man comes upon a virgin who is not engaged and he seizes her and
lies with her, and they are discovered, the man who lay with her shall
pay the girl’s father fifty [shekels of] silver, and she shall be his
wife. Because he has violated her, he can never have the right to
divorce her.—Deuteronomy 22:28
Think of it as if someone take your cows and cook it. You pay for the cow. The same way if someone took your daughter's virginity, then they pay you bride price.
The consent of the girl matters little. So this could be rape and it can be consensual sex. The verse is not clear because it doesn't matter. The bible is concerned with the man having a girl without paying the parents' a fair bride price. The verse here sees the parent of the child as the victim, not the girl. The verse try to redress that aspect.
Deuteronomy 22:25-27 prescribes death penalty for "adultery". Not for rape. The penalty for having sex with someone already married is death irrelevant of the consent of the girl. If the girl doesn't consent, she is not executed. That is the only time the girls' consent matter. The penalty for the man doesn't depend on the girl's consent as usual.
The penalty of rape in general is NOT death. Deuteronomy 22:25 prescribe death penalty because the girl is already engaged. Jews consider engaged girl already married.
http://biblehub.com/deuteronomy/22-24.htm
then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and you
shall stone them to death; the girl, because she did not cry out in
the city, and the man, because he has violated his neighbor's wife.
Thus you shall purge the evil from among you
As far as I know there is absolutely no laws in the whole torah against sex outside marriage in general. However, sex outside marriage in general is very rare. That is because girls almost always "belong" to some male and that male is the one considered victim when you get the girl.
If the girl is not married, she belongs to her parents, so we have this "you got to marry her" as punishment. If she is married to someone else, the penalty is death. If she is divorced, she'll mary her husband's brother.
Hypothetically I could ask what about a girl that doesn't belong to anyone? Say she is a widow free to marry anyone? Is it a sin to have sex with them.
I have not found any verse in the torah that address that. However, until today, some jews consider David's copulation with Batsheba kosher because Batsheba is technically temporarily divorced by Uriah at that time..
http://torahideals.com/essays-and-imaginings/david-and-bathsheba/
To warn us against superficially interpreting David’s episode with
Bathsheba, the Talmud records the oral tradition that, “Anyone who
says that David sinned is in error.”
The closest I can find is
http://biblehub.com/deuteronomy/22-21.htm
she shall be brought to the door of her father's house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done an outrageous thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father's house. You must purge the evil from among you.
Question remains. What about if she's not on her fathers' house? What about if she's an independent insurance agent? What about if she never marries anyone after that? What about if her husband knew beforehand that she is not a virgin, pay lower bride price, and don't mind?