Curious as to the thoughts of others on this issue:
21 April 2003
By GORDON JON THOMPSON
The legal age for sex should be lowered to 14 because teenagers are now better informed, a lawyer says.
Auckland lawyer Colin Amery, who is representing a man charged after allegedly having underage sex with a 14-year-old girl, made the call for the change after The Dominion Post revealed that a legal loophole means a 21-year-old Wellington female swimming coach cannot be charged after having a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old boy.
He said the change was needed because children were now able to make decisions earlier about when they had sex, and society's attitudes towards sex had relaxed since the laws were last changed in 1961.
However, the Wellington boy's mother is furious the swim coach, who works for Wellington City Council, cannot not prosecuted.
Mr Amery said inequalities in the law that meant his client faced charges while the Wellington woman could not be prosecuted, needed to be eliminated. However, the real issue was whether 16 was an appropriate age for consent.
He said children under 13 needed to be protected but children older than that should be allowed to make their own decisions and were able to get information about sex from the media, especially television.
"The sexual climate of today is very different and children of 14 have a lot of sexual knowledge these days compared with 1961. At 14, young people have a degree of physical maturity but not necessarily emotional and psychological maturity, and the law has hopelessly failed to keep up with that," he said.
Children's Commissioner Roger McClay said children, no matter what gender, needed to be protected from having sex too early and he welcomed moves from the Government to make sex between an adult woman and a boy illegal.
Mr McClay said it was ridiculous the woman could not be charged.
"If it was a male they would be in court and I would be calling them a paedophile. All children have the right to be protected - sometimes from themselves."
The boy was still a child in the eyes of the law even if he was physically mature, and children could be abused no matter what sex they were, he said. "It's totally irresponsible and that person should hang their head in shame . . . because she has taken advantage of him," he said.
The woman, who spoke to The Dominion Post last week, said she believed she had not done anything wrong and had loved the boy. She said she had checked she was not breaking the law before starting the sexual relationship with him.
Justice Minister Phil Goff said he would introduce amendments to the Crimes Act to close the loophole that allows women having sex with boys to escape prosecution. These are due to go to the Cabinet in the next two months.
Mr Goff said once the amendments were approved by the Cabinet, they would be sent for drafting, and he expected to introduce the bill by the end of the year.
The anomaly was based on an outmoded assumption that women were incapable of committing sex offences, he said.
National police spokesman Tony Ryall said Mr Goff first promised to close the loophole in January 2000, and the changes Mr Goff planned to introduce were formulated years ago.
21 April 2003
By GORDON JON THOMPSON
The legal age for sex should be lowered to 14 because teenagers are now better informed, a lawyer says.
Auckland lawyer Colin Amery, who is representing a man charged after allegedly having underage sex with a 14-year-old girl, made the call for the change after The Dominion Post revealed that a legal loophole means a 21-year-old Wellington female swimming coach cannot be charged after having a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old boy.
He said the change was needed because children were now able to make decisions earlier about when they had sex, and society's attitudes towards sex had relaxed since the laws were last changed in 1961.
However, the Wellington boy's mother is furious the swim coach, who works for Wellington City Council, cannot not prosecuted.
Mr Amery said inequalities in the law that meant his client faced charges while the Wellington woman could not be prosecuted, needed to be eliminated. However, the real issue was whether 16 was an appropriate age for consent.
He said children under 13 needed to be protected but children older than that should be allowed to make their own decisions and were able to get information about sex from the media, especially television.
"The sexual climate of today is very different and children of 14 have a lot of sexual knowledge these days compared with 1961. At 14, young people have a degree of physical maturity but not necessarily emotional and psychological maturity, and the law has hopelessly failed to keep up with that," he said.
Children's Commissioner Roger McClay said children, no matter what gender, needed to be protected from having sex too early and he welcomed moves from the Government to make sex between an adult woman and a boy illegal.
Mr McClay said it was ridiculous the woman could not be charged.
"If it was a male they would be in court and I would be calling them a paedophile. All children have the right to be protected - sometimes from themselves."
The boy was still a child in the eyes of the law even if he was physically mature, and children could be abused no matter what sex they were, he said. "It's totally irresponsible and that person should hang their head in shame . . . because she has taken advantage of him," he said.
The woman, who spoke to The Dominion Post last week, said she believed she had not done anything wrong and had loved the boy. She said she had checked she was not breaking the law before starting the sexual relationship with him.
Justice Minister Phil Goff said he would introduce amendments to the Crimes Act to close the loophole that allows women having sex with boys to escape prosecution. These are due to go to the Cabinet in the next two months.
Mr Goff said once the amendments were approved by the Cabinet, they would be sent for drafting, and he expected to introduce the bill by the end of the year.
The anomaly was based on an outmoded assumption that women were incapable of committing sex offences, he said.
National police spokesman Tony Ryall said Mr Goff first promised to close the loophole in January 2000, and the changes Mr Goff planned to introduce were formulated years ago.
