Age of consent laws are out of date?

Question

With regards of the fact that children are engaging in sexual activities of one kind or another at much younger ages, often 12 years and younger, do you believe the age of consent should be reduced to age 12 nationally with no age differential limitations of any kind?

I ask this question because many teens are engaging in sexual activities.  The way most laws are currently stated one or both can be held criminally liable and be sent to jail or prison for engaging in sex.  For instance an 18 year old boy dating a 16 year old girl, not uncommon at all, can be arrested and charged with statutory rape for even dating the girl the way the laws are currently written. Girls in general prefer to date boys 1 to 3 years older than themselves thus making the boy a criminal. This is compounded should a 17 year old girl date and engage in sexual activity with a boy 19 years old or older.

Jas · Accepted Answer

Regardless of when young people engage in sex, I still think any child younger than 16 is too young to make that decision, however if they choose too, then neither party should be held responsible if under the age of 18.

Wicked Wanda · Answer

Age of consent laws are perfectly fine how they are.

Lowering them will only make children think it's ok that they are having sex with each other when in reality it's not ok.

Sure, the age of sexual encounters was much younger a long time ago, but they also had a much shorter life span which meant less time to procreate and less time to share with each other. Now we are living well into our 100's and we don't need children who are 12 and 11 having babies and not being able to raise them. Not only that, but just because a body has the ability to give birth doesn't mean that body's brain and emotions have caught up with their body development.

I think it's a ridiculous idea to think that children should be allowed to have sex just because their bodies are capable of having sex.

Teens may THINK they're smarter when it comes to sex, but there are certain bits of wisdom that no teenager will achieve until they live life and experience it for themselves.

Abstinence programs may be failing, but the blame for that lys with the children AND the parents of the children. Abstinence is something that requires more than just someone saying "I'm not going to have sex". For it to be successful it requires that person to have some self control. And self control is something that can be taught and should be taught to children by their parents. There are enough people out there who have used their self control and didn't have sex before their bodies, minds, and emotions were ready that we know it can be done.....it's just the laziness of our society that makes it fail for some.

Anonymous · Answer

Human neural development does not stop until a person is 18 to 20 years old. This is the reason behind many of the laws. It is simple - a child of that age is not mentally mature enough to consider the ramifications of sex and the responsibility and protections required. Just because it is fun does not mean it is o.k.

Age of consent laws are out of date?

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