Age of consent to be reduced

[lostexpectation]

what has morality to do with age of consent, and what has rape got to do with it either, rape is rape and consensual sex is consensual sex.

does anybody have the statistics for when people lose their virginity?

even if the average is 17 there must be a fair number having it at 16, and we goota include them in the law

[Whig]

The law doesn't exist to advise people on their morals, or to create or culture, it exists to decide which activities in society should be liable to prosecution. To say that the age of consent should be 17 is to say that in principle the DPP should prosecute two sixteen-year-olds engaging in sexual activity, just as to say that the age for smoking should be 18 is to say that a seventeen-year-old should be fined for smoking. The purpose an age of consent law is and should be to protect children and to prosecute those who would do them harm.

My personal view is that a two- or three-year age gap would make sense for those in their teens.

[jady88]

The law doesn't exist to advise people on their morals, or to create or culture, it exists to decide which activities in society should be liable to prosecution. To say that the age of consent should be 17 is to say that in principle the DPP should prosecute two sixteen-year-olds engaging in sexual activity, just as to say that the age for smoking should be 18 is to say that a seventeen-year-old should be fined for smoking. The purpose an age of consent law is and should be to protect children and to prosecute those who would do them harm.

My personal view is that a two- or three-year age gap would make sense for those in their teens.

But hte law must also attempt to reconcile reality with idealism and i believe that that is the object of the reform efforts which now look to drop dead in the water. However, in reforming this piece of legislation we are making a frace of our whole system by comparing this law to other prohibtory laws.