Quote:
Originally Posted by The Slim Reaper
But proving those crimes with any age is also near impossible unless clear evidence exists. I think you have really good ideas around decriminalising 14yr olds being with each other, I just disagree with it when it gets really close to purity policing (I respect your personal views on the matter, and this is my personal view).
The only solution when it comes to implementing your views seems to be raising the age of consent to either 18 or 21, because staggered ages of consent seems pretty unworkable/unrealistic, and the more areas of uncertainty the law provides, the easier it is for predators to take advantage.
Just to be clear, I'd hate if a close family member of mine was 18 and entered into a relationship with a +30yr old, but I don't think my personal distatse is a reason to criminalise more people.
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Ultimately the simplest solution would be to raise the age of adult consent to 18 (which is in line with most other thinking on what constitutes an adult in law) whilst decriminalising sex close-in-age under 18 which is, in practice if not officially, pretty much how it currently works with under-16's.
I do still personally think 18 is on the young side, however there's a vast difference between an 18 year old and a 16 year old so I think it's a fairly sensible compromise: again, especially given that we currently mark "18 as adulthood" in general thinking anyway.
FWIW marriage at 16 is also bizarre in concept, especially as it's basically a contract, and you have to be 18 for
most contracts to be properly binding
. So I would raise the age for marriage to 18 as well.