Age of consent Totally Explained

Everything about Age Of Consent totally explained

While the phrase age of consent typically doesn't appear in legal statutes, when used with reference to criminal law the age of consent is the minimum age at which a person is considered to be capable of legally giving informed consent to any contract or behaviour regulated by law with another person. This article refers specifically to those laws regulating sexual acts. This shouldn't be confused with the age of majority, age of criminal responsibility, or the marriageable age.
The age of consent varies widely from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. As a result, victims can be of any chronological age if their mental age is below the age of consent. Some jurisdictions forbid sexual activity outside of legal marriage completely. The relevant age may also vary by the type of sexual act, the sex of the actors, or other restrictions such as abuse of a position of trust. Some jurisdictions may also make allowances for minors engaged in sexual acts with each other, rather than a hard and fast single age. Charges resulting from a breach of these laws may range from a relatively low-level misdemeanor such as "corruption of a minor," to "statutory rape" (which is considered equivalent to rape, both in severity and sentencing).
There are many grey areas in this area of law, some regarding unspecific and untried legislation, others brought about by debates regarding changing societal attitudes, and others due to conflicts between federal and state laws. These factors all make age of consent an often confusing subject, and a topic of highly charged debates.

Marriage – In those jurisdictions where the marriageable age is less than the age of consent.

Rape – where someone under the age of consent detains and rapes someone over the age of consent. These different defenses can change dramatically from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, even between neighbouring states of the same union with the same age of consent.

Extraterritoriality

Increasingly the age of consent laws of a state are applied not only to acts committed on its own territory, but also acts committed by its nationals or inhabitants on foreign territory, while 70 out of 195 jurisdictions around the world outlaw homosexual intercourse altogether. These disparities are increasingly being challenged. Cases such as Lawrence v. Texas in the Supreme Court of the United States and Morris v. The United Kingdom in the European Court of Human Rights have set precedents for international law. For specific examples see the articles listed under Ages of consent in various countries below.

Other concerns

Marriage

The age at which a person can be legally married can also differ from the age of consent. In some jurisdictions this can negate the age of consent laws where the marriageable age is lower than the age of consent, but in others it does not. Further still, some jurisdictions have no actual age of consent but require persons to be married before they can legally engage in sexual activity.

Pornography

Discrepancies also exist in some areas between the age of consent and the legal barrier at which an individual can appear in pornographic images and films. In many jurisdictions, the minimum age for legal participation and even viewing of such productions is 18. Films and images showing individuals under the age of 18 (or who appear to be under in some jurisdictions) in applicable jurisdictions are classified as child pornography, even though the legal age of consent in those same jurisdictions is lower than 18.

Prostitution

While the legality of adult prostitution varies between different parts of the world, the prostitution of minors is illegal in most countries. Furthermore, some countries enforce worldwide jurisdiction over any involvement in child prostitution by their nationals.
The most common definition of a 'child' in this context is a person that's under the age of 18, although the laws of some countries distinguish between teenage prostitutes and the prostitution of younger children. For example, the Thai government defines a teenage prostitute as being between 15 and 18 years old, while the Japanese government defines one as being between 13 and 18. The age boundary for teenage prostitution is generally not the same as the age of consent in those countries.

Statutory rape

Where a jurisdiction's age of consent laws for sexual activity treat those convicted of those laws with the same severity as other forms of rape the law is often referred to as statutory rape. This is an emotive title to some who view the violation of age of consent laws as lesser crimes or as no crime at all. The different titles of age of consent laws include statutory rape, rape of a child, corruption of a minor, carnal knowledge of a minor and others. However, in the vernacular many of these terms are interchangeable and little differentiation is made.

Initiatives to change the age of consent

Age of consent reform refers to the efforts of some individuals or groups, for different reasons and with varying arguments, to raise, lower, abolish or otherwise alter age of consent laws. These efforts advocate five main positions:

An introduction of close-in-age exemptions.

A change in the way age of consent laws are examined in court.

An increase in the ages of consent, more severe penalties for violation of these laws or both.

A decrease in the ages of consent, less severe penalties for violation of these laws or both.

To abolish the age of consent laws altogether or as a temporary practical expedient. There is an ongoing debate over these laws. However, critics on both sides of these arguments are often arguing at cross purposes owing to their differences in defining what exactly the age of consent laws are to achieve and who they're intended to protect. For example those advocating close in age exceptions may be held up by their opponents as contradicting the protective nature of the age of consent law.

Ages of consent in various countries

Specific jurisdictions' laws relating to age of consent can be found on the following pages:

Listed by region

Antarctica – While there are no specific age of consent laws in the Antarctic, in the unlikely event of a minor engaging in sexual activity, under the Antarctic Treaty, scientists and support staff stationed there may be subject to the laws of the party of which they're nationals. Other visitors to the continent may need to follow the laws of the country in which their expedition is organized, or the country from which it departs.

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