if it was dropped to say 14,in my opinion the law would have to be more specific in who that 14 year old could have sex with...for example another 14 year old or someone under 16 years of age.
Peter Tatchell I am aware of him and his views on many things, and on that note I will digress.
The age of consent eh? Right as the LAW stands at the moment is is illegal for anyone under the age of 16 to have sex. We know that some kids under that age have sex, but is lowering it really the answer?
Ok lets take a scenario where the age is lowered to say 14. How long will it be before 13 year olds are having sex willy nilly? Will these toss pots then ask for it to be lowered again? To what this time 12? Then lets say a 11 year old wants to have sex, will people say " well they are only a year out of them being legal to do it?
There HAS to be a line that is an acceptable one. Do we stop with sex? What about saying the age of buying drinks should be lowered to 16?
Any lower than 16 will be a huge mistake, most are still kids whatever they might think.
If a 14 year old is legally allowed to have sex, what will the law then be on " adults " who then prey on them? It would be perfectly legal for them to do so.
Why do people want to constantly fuck about with laws that work most of the time perfectly well? The Monday morning brigade are off again, nothing better to do with their time.
Will these people only be satisfied when there is no age limit to anything? Where the fuck is a childs age determined by these loonies?
Think about it people, would you REALLY I mean REALLY be happy with your 13 year old Daughter having sex with someone much older, and then find there is nothing you can do about it from a legal standpoint?
Let's hope that the people who will eventually sit down and discuss this properly, have the common sense they were born with,but in Liberal PC Britain I will not hold me breath.
No wonder we have so many teenage " kids " having kids themselves, and people want to lower it even further? Total madness.
I feel there has to be common sense applied. If a kid of 15 years and 300 days has sex with someone 16 years and a week - so what? Apart from no-one that age should be committing to anything longer term than their GCSE's.
If one partner is significantly older - and at 16 that woud be 18 since people mature hugely (generally) about that age, that is a different matter altogether. And I feel should be generally legislated against.
What is the true minimum? Hard to say, 14 maybe?
The fact is some young people are far more mature than some older people and could be trusted to look after themselves in a relationship. However the law cannot possibly take account of that and it must default to protecting the vulnerable.
I feel that in our society, 16 is low enough. Personally I would love to see an effective social pressure rather than a legal one, for parents to help their children avoid distraction of all kinds until they have completed at least their mandatory education.
Oh, and just because people breach an age limit doesn't give any reason whatsoever for lowering it. FFS. Unless we also want to see 14 year-olds joining the military and heading for the front lines again?
I think it's probably impossible to put an appropriate age to these things...drinking ,smoking ,sex etc...as maturity of the individual is far more relevant,and as such I think an all encompassing cut of point is useless, and that a sensible dispassionate assessment of the individuals concerned would be far more useful - prohibitively expensive and practically unworkable ....but much better.
Bloody hell scared me reading this it's got me thinking what my kids would be doing in a good few years time ( if up to me )
If the age of consent is lowered does that then make it ok for a child to become pregnant .....for me no
when I was at school I can remember two girls in the last year getting pregnant which was quite a thing as they were the only two ( that I remember )
But now they are getting pregnant as young as 12, 13 , 14 i mean even 14 is too young !!!
If the age of consent is lowered god knows what will happen
In many cases the age of consent, with respect to teachers/dentists/doctors/nurses will be 18. People "in a position of trust" are bound by laws enshrined in the sexual offences act 2003 (sections 16-24 inclusive)
The courts already have large areas of discretion with respect to under 16 sexual activity with similarly aged persons. Magistrates courts have little leeway, the case would be passed to a superior court in many cases because the sentence that may be given cannot be awarded by a lesser court.
It is worth pointing out that the age of consent in a "relationship" which is financially based (prostitution) is 18. Not 16. It matters not that the person whose services are being purchased is consenting. It also matters not that the person may be male or may be female. The act of purchasing the sex means that the person it is being purchased FROM has to be 18 or over.
The three articles that Neil quoted in the original post were all quite revealing on the matter, depending on the demographic you were aiming towards.
The only one that showed any balance was written by Tatchell.
The law needs to be changed for this reason and this reason only;
At the present time 2 x 15 year olds if they have sex and are successfully prosecuted will be placed on the sexual offences register for a period of time, which I find unbelievable.
So the law needs to be chnaged to either allow chidren to have sex OR to waive a criminal conviction if found to be having unlawful sex.
The guy on radio 4 was not suggesting for one minute that the age of consent should be lowered to 14 to enable paedophiles to get their jollies. He was saying amend it so kids did not end up on the sexual offenders register. Mis-reporting at its best.
The problem can more easily be solved by removing the NEED for registration where the "offence" was between consenting persons within a set age range. ie: An young person under 16 having consensual sex with another young person would not be deemed a sex offender needing to register.
That would leave the age for legal sex at 16....and have no doubt about this, there ARE predatory males for whom sex with young persons is a habit.
What I dont understand you cant drink until you are 18, but you can have sex at 16 and end up pregnant bringing a life into the world which I would say is one of the biggest responsibilities you will ever have in your life.
;)
:lol2: ) and I think that the responsibility has been shifted away from judges and onto the DPP, who decide if it's in the public interest to pursue a case.
