Age Of Consent

In criminal law, the age of consent is the age at which a person is considered to be capable of legally giving informed consent to sexual acts with another person. Thus somebody engaging in sex with someone below the age of consent commits a crime, called child sexual abuse. Strictly this is regardless of his or her own age, but if two young people engage in sex than the older one is considered to commit a crime, especially if the age difference is relatively large (see also below).

The age of consent should not to be confused with the age of majority or age of criminal responsibility. The marriageable age in some countries is not necessarily the same as the age of consent.

The age of consent varies widely from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, though most jurisdictions in the world today have an age of consent between 14 to 18 years, but ages as young as 12 and as old as 21 also occur, with some countries in the Middle East holding female ages of consent in the single-digit range.

Social and legal attitudes towards the appropriate age of consent have drifted upwards in modern times; while ages from ten through to thirteen were typically acceptable in the mid 19th century, fifteen through eighteen had become the norm in many countries by the end of the 20th century. Calls for the age of consent for heterosexual sex to be lowered are largely unheard of, outside of U.S. states with an age of 17 or 18.

Sexual relations with a person under the age of consent is in general a criminal offence, with punishments ranging from token fines to life imprisonment. In the United States this offence is frequently called statutory rape, though outside the United States other names are more commonly used (e.g. "carnal knowledge of a person under sixteen years").

The enforcement practices of age of consent laws tend to vary depending on the social sensiblities of the particular culture. Often enforcement is not exercised to the letter of the law, with legal action being taken only when a sufficiently socially-unacceptable age gap exists between the two individuals, or if the perpetrator is in a position of authority over the minor (e.g. a teacher, priest or doctor). The sex of each participant also influences perceptions of an individual's guilt and therefore enforcement.

That the relationship was consensual is not in general a defence to having sexual relations with a person under the age of consent; however, there frequently are some defences: common examples include a limited mistake of age defence, and a defence of similarity of age. A mistake of age defence is that the accused mistakenly believed the victim was not under the age of consent; however where such a defence is provided, it is normally limited to only apply when the victim is above a certain age. Such a defence becomes stronger if the accused can show due diligence in determining the age of the victim. A defence of similarity of age is that the difference in age between the accused and the victim was less than a certain number of years. Another defence is often marriage, for those jurisdictions where the marriageable age is less than the age of consent.

Frequently, jurisdictions provide differing ages of consent for heterosexual and homosexual intercourse. Most often, the age of consent for heterosexual and female homosexual intercourse is lower than the age of consent for male homosexual intercourse. The gay rights movement has been attempting in many places to establish an equal age of consent regardless of the sex of the partners; this has resulted in many jurisdictions adopting a common age of consent, though conservatives have frequently and successfully opposed this (see Sodomy law).

Increasingly the age of consent laws of a state apply not only to acts committed on its own territory, but also acts committed by its nationals on foreign territory. Such provisions have been frequently adopted to help tackle the problem of child sex tourism.

Ages of consent in various countries

The following list of ages of consent in various countries is based on the list given on the web-site linked at the bottom of this page. In this list, gay is meant to include only male-male sex, while homosexual includes both gay and lesbian. The ages of consent given here are generally for a partner of any age, so an age of 14 means that a 14 year old can legally have sex with a 60 year old. It is not uncommon for there to be exceptions giving lower ages of consent where young partners are close in age.

Please note: Wikipedia does not give legal advice, this information is not necessarily 100% accurate.

• Albania: 14
• Algeria: 16; Same sex relationships are illegal
• Andorra: 16
• Antigua: 16; 18 for homosexual males
• Argentina: 15 for all (can be 12 in certain cases), no homosexual laws.
• Australia
  • New South Wales: 16
  • Queensland: gay 18, otherwise 16
  • Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia: 17
  • Western Australia: gay 21, otherwise 16
• Austria: 14 (as of August 13, 2002)
• Belgium: 16
• Brazil: 18, but 14 and older only prosecutable after complaint by minor
• Canada: 14; 18 for anal sex, sex with an authority figure, prostitution or appearing in pornography. A 14 year old may have sex with another who is as young as 12.
• China: 14
• Croatia: 14 or 18
• Finland: homosexual 18, heterosexual 16
• France: 15
• Germany:
  • 18 years in dependency relationships (teacher/student etc.)
  • 16 years if the older partner is over 18 and coerces the younger partner into sex other than by physical means, or if the older partner pays the younger partner to have sex (prostitution)
  • 16 years if the older partner is over 21 and exploits "lack of sexual self-determination" of the younger partner (only prosecuted after complaints or "public interest", in practice rarely prosecuted with little or no punishment)
  • 14 years for all other sexual relationships
• Greece: 17 for sodomy, otherwise 14
• Hong Kong: gay 21, lesbian unknown, heterosexual females 16, heterosexual males 18
• Hungary: homosexual 18, heterosexual 14
• Iceland: 14
• India: heterosexual 16, homosexual forbidden
• Ireland: 17, 15 for lesbians and oral sex.
• Israel: 16
• Italy: 14
• Japan: 16, but 18 under some circumstances (13 to 17 for males)
• Malaysia:
  • 18, but Muslims must also be married
  • homosexual sex is illegal
• Mexico: 12, but 18 under some circumstances
• Netherlands: 16 (however, sex with a prostitute of 16 or 17 is illegal)
• New Zealand: 16 (no age of consent for boys for sex with an adult female [1])
• Norway: 16
• Poland: 15
• Romania: 14
• Russia: either 14 or 16
• Singapore:
  • sex with a girl aged under 14 is considered statutory rape
  • sex with a girl aged under 16 is considered an offense of "carnal intercourse with an underage female" (less severe than rape but still a punishable offense)
  • homosexual sex is illegal
• South Africa: homosexual 19, heterosexual 16
• Spain: 13
• Sweden: 15
• Switzerland: 16
• United Kingdom: heterosexual and gay male 16 in Great Britain, but 17 in Northern Ireland (Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000). Note: while there is not specific law for lesbians sex with a girl under 16 years old could be prosecuted under child abuse legislation.
• United States: varies from state to state, usually between 16 and 18; some states formerly forbade homosexual acts entirely, however such laws have been declared unconstitutional in Lawrence v. Texas. Federal law forbids crossing state lines or international borders with the intent of having sex with a person who is under 16 and at least 4 years younger than the perpetrator (18 U.S.C. 2243, 18 U.S.C. 2423). In the US it is illegal to make pornography featuring those under 18 and prosecutions have been commenced for cases where both partners are over the age of consent and under 18, where they were making material solely for their own consumption or that of their lawful partner. The constitutionality of these cases is uncertain.

See: Criminal law

External links

• Age of Consent Campaign, 1886-1914 (in the U.S.A.)
• Age of Consent campaigns in the U.K.
• Ages of consent over the world

.

Crosswords: Age Of Consent

English words defined with "age of consent": carnal abuse ♦ statutory rape. (references)