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Age of consent

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 82.94.251.194 (talk) at 21:02, 11 January 2005 (Corrected age of Romania from 10 to 14 (see http://www.ageofconsent.com/ageofconsent.htm + http://www.interpol.int/Public/Children/SexualAbuse/NationalLaws/csaRomania.asp)). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

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. Under many jurisdictions, this is regardless of his or her own age, but in some locations, if the age difference is within a certain range, a less serious (or no) crime occurs.

The age of consent should not be confused with the age of majority or age of criminal responsibility, and in some jurisdictions, the marriageable age differs from 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 US, 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").

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 and/or inhabitants on foreign territory:

  • In the United States the PROTECT Act (signed into law on April 30, 2003) authorizes fines and/or imprisonment for up to 30 years for US citizens or residents who engage in illicit sexual conduct abroad. For the purposes of this law illicit sexual conduct includes commercial sex with anyone under 18, and all sex with anyone under 16. Previous US law was less strict, only punishing those having sex either in contravention of local laws OR in commerce (prostitution); but did not prohibit non-commercial sex with, say, a 14 year-old if such sex is legal in the foreign territory.
  • France allows the prosecution of its own citizens on rape charges for sex with minors under 15 abroad even if it was legal with respect to the local jurisdiction. The same applies to Germany if the minor is under 14.
  • For inhabitants of the Netherlands it is a severe crime to have sex with a prostitute below 18, or any person below 16, anywhere in the world.
    • if a foreigner has had sex with a prostitute below 18, or any person below 16, anywhere in the world, even if this was legal, if this was done at a time that it was already illegal in the Netherlands, he or she becomes a criminal when immigrating to the Netherlands.

(See also Universal jurisdiction; the effective age of consent may be the highest of those corresponding to the list in Universal jurisdiction#Applicable jurisdictions.)

Such provisions have been frequently adopted to help reduce the incidence of child sex tourism.

The enforcement practices of age of consent laws tend to vary depending on the social sensibilities 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. Not only is enforcement more likely in the case of a larger age gap, but in the US at least, laws are becoming more explicit about prohibiting sex between youngsters and authority figures, even when sex would otherwise be legal.

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 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 apply only 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 fewer 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).


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.

A-D

E-H

  • Finland: 16
  • France: 15; however sex with a minor under 18 in a dependency relationship may be criminalized.
  • 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:
    • 14 if the partner is 18 or under
    • 18 otherwise
    • 18 for homosexuals

I-N

O-T

United Kingdom

  • United Kingdom: (see [1] and [2], a 2003 overhaul of hundred-year-old laws on sexual activity which came into force in 2003)
    • 18 years for any sexual act if there is a relationship of trust (e.g. teacher/pupil) (unless they are a married couple, in which case the below applies)
    • England and Wales: heterosexual and male and female homosexual 16
    • Scotland: heterosexual and male homosexual 16
    • Northern Ireland: heterosexual and male homosexual 17
    • Until 2003, there was not specific law for lesbians, in England and Wales this has now been set at 16 years old. Although no such legislation exists for Scotland and Northern Ireland, a female under 16 is deemed incapable of consenting to any type of sexual behaviour which could be classed as sexual assault and the courts have taken this to mean that the age of consent is the same as for male homosexual acts.
    • Jersey: 16 (18 homosexual)

(Before 2001 the homosexual age of consent in England and Wales was 18, and before the early 1990s it was 21, the age it was set at when consensual buggery was decriminalised)

United States of America

See also

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