sex laws (again)

[lord molly]

if two people hve sex at the age of................. lets say 14, is there anything ilegal about that, seeming as both are the same age and both are under 16, are they both sex offenders, or is te male liable for a crimial record........

[RATTER15]

The law considers a person, male or female is not old enough to make an informed decision about sexual matters until the age of 16, however I think if both parties were under age it would probably reported to parents for them to deal with. I think there is a lot of tolerance if the older party is 16 or 17 and younger party is 15 if it went to court it would probably be a slap on the hand, but probably wouldn't get that far.

[lord molly]

cheers, well its still not worth the risk for people though. in spain the age is 12

[ugly_bob]

I believe there is a similar offence to American 'statutory rape' for anyone who has sexual contact with anyone under 13 in the UK.

[Ethel]

Interesting statement from a short but informative article.

Sex laws apply to both women and men. If a female over the age of ten has any form of sex with a boy or girl under the age of 16 then she also may be charged with sexual assault or even rape.

http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.a spx?printPage=1&articleId=966

[Whickerman]

Just for Irish readers - the law here is different - the male can (and has been) charged with statutory rape, even if he's underage too, the legal age being 17. The law is currently being updated though.