Raise age of consent?

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Why should the age of consent be 21 when the age to marry is 18?
:rolleyes:

I don’t believe we should place any more restrictions on legal adults than we already have.
 
tjm190 said:
Why should the age of consent be 21 when the age to marry is 18?
:rolleyes:

I don’t believe we should place any more restrictions on legal adults than we already have.
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why is the drinking age 21?
 
tjm190 said:
An inconsistency in federal policy. Those who could be forced to take a bullet for their nation should be allowed to enjoy all it has to offer.
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I agree there should be one criteria for adulthood not several.
 
tjm190 said:
I don’t believe we should place any more restrictions on legal adults than we already have.
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I don’t either. We also have to consider basic human nature - when you tell someone they can’t do something (especially a teenager) - their natural reaction is to want to do it.
 
cyberwolf001 said:
Only think I’d like to see done with these age of consent laws is alter them so that in the case of statutory rape the adult wont be charged with if he was fooled by the child’s age.

Such as in this case Alisha Dean Doesn’t Look - Or Act - 13

I know that in some states the girl could show a faked ID, faked High School diploma, faked college ID. An if she has an older sister that looks enough like her her sister’s senior yearbook and it STILL wouldn’t matter! The older party would still be sent to jail and branded a child abuser! :eek:
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Or assumed because she was drinking in a bar that demands ID she was 21.
I know thee cases don’t elicit much sympathy but deception by the “child” or even a good-faith belief that the other party is of age should be a positive defense. A conviction includes not just a prison sentence but a lifetime being branded as a sex offender. I’d rather just kill myself.
 
royal_archer said:
If both parties are minors then they would both be perpetrators.

Right now it is not illegal for a minor to have relations with a minor.

Also Drug, drinking and smoking laws are being ignored but we still make an effort to enforce them. The idea would be to reduce the number of occurances even if it was not possible to eliminate them.
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I think you’re a smart person I so agree with a lot of what you write. I personally don’t know how effective raising it will be, but I have no opposition against it. Will say that laws unfortunetly don’t keep teens from drinking n’ smoking that well in private. Educating them on concequences and encouraging thier faith in God though keeps them from it. The whole aspect of being a drinking/smoking/sex addict doesn’t seem like it point me to heaven so I completly avoid one and keep the other two in the min. I just feel that if younger folks saw how holy and sacred sex is they would be less likely engage in it. Perhaps that just works for me a few other though.
 
royal_archer said:
It seams like a good idea for the Church to dedicate more resources to addressing the issue of age of consent and to remove age as an excuse for age of consent.

If I understand it correctly the age of consent varies by state but for discussion let’s say it is about 16. Any one over the age of 18 who has relations with a person under the age of consent could be guilty of statutory rape. However, I believe that those under 18 can’t be charged with statutory rape.

I assume there is no argument that children/teens having relations is a bad thing.

I believe the Church should go on the offense and first say that statutory rape applies regardless of the purpetrators age. I am not advocating putting kids in jail for this but they should be charged with a crime, fined, given other penalties, Possibly as a misdemeanor.

Second the Church should advocate raising the age of consent. You have to be 18 to vote and having intimate relations is a lot more significant of a decision. You have to be 21 to be considered responsible enough to drink and putting yourself in the possition to be a parrent is a very tough responsibiliity. That is why I believe the age of consent should be 21+. I feel a person needs to be more mature for their first time in bed than their first drink. And I know that there are cases where it is appropriate for 18, 19, and 20 year olds to get married but if those situations are reasonable then the parrents can always consent to the marriage.

I believe the bennefits of significantly raising the age includes giving people more of a chance to date and get established in life prior to entering an intimate relationship. Also, it reduces the number of unwanted pregnacies. It will also change the mind set from “As soon as I turn eighteen and move out I can do “it” when ever I want with Whomever I want…” to a mind set where people can move out and get established living on their own with out getting into a physical relationship.

Thoughts?
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I have no problem with it as long as they raise the legal age where you can join the military to 21+; after all as I’m sure you’ll agree, in combat you make life and death decisions which are much more important then having consensual sex.

On a side note, good luck enforcing the laws if passed. I think if the Roman Catholic Church tells its members to abstain until they are 21+ that’s fine, but if they start a movement to change the age of consent nationally, there would most likely be chaos and our prisons would be filled beyond capacity with those who had sex under the age of 21 which means new ones would have to be built, staffed and maintained; where’s the money going to come from to make it happen??
 
I think if the Catholic Church was going to get involved in the “age of consent” issue, they should probably start in their own backyard. The age of consent in Vatican State is 12 and the age of consent in Italy is 14.

In Spain, it is 13.
 
It would not have to be 100% effective to make a difference. It would at least cut down on public promiscuity and would put all children on notice that if they got into an arguement with their partner and the partner filed a complaint they could be facing criminal charges. It would deffinately have an impact on random sex mentality.
 
royal_archer said:
It seams like a good idea for the Church to dedicate more resources to addressing the issue of age of consent and to remove age as an excuse for age of consent.

Thoughts?
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Kids today are having sex as early as 5th grade. Are you saying here that the age of consent should be lowered to the age of 10 because of this?
Think about what you are suggesting here.
 
peary1 said:
Kids today are having sex as early as 5th grade. Are you saying here that the age of consent should be lowered to the age of 10 because of this?
Think about what you are suggesting here.
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No, what I am saying is that an adult will go to jail for having sex with someone under the age of consent but an older teenager who has sex with someone under the age of consent will get off scott free. The age of the assailant should not be an excuse to get out of being prosecuted for statuatory rape.
 
jackinbox said:
I think if the Catholic Church was going to get involved in the “age of consent” issue, they should probably start in their own backyard. The age of consent in Vatican State is 12 and the age of consent in Italy is 14.

In Spain, it is 13.
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If that’s true, then its a total disgrace. Both the Church and the respective countries mentioned need to clean up their act and modify the numbers to a higher age.
 
According to Wikipedia, the ages of consent for sexual activity vary by jurisdiction across Europe. Spain sets its age of consent at 13, and the rest of the countries have an age of consent between 14 and 17, except Turkey and Malta, which have the highest age limit, set at 18. The laws can also stipulate the specific activities that are permitted and/or differentially specify the age at which a given gender can participate.

Countries that have age of consent at 14: Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Lithuania, Moldova, Portugal, and Serbia.

Countries that have age of consent at 13 and 12: Spain (13), Vatican State (age 12 for equal consent; age 14 for consent with adult)

Countries that have age of consent at 15: Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, Romania, Poland, Ireland, Iceland, Greece, France, Faroe Islands, Denmark, and Czech Republic.

Countries that have **age of consent at 16: **Andorra, Azherbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Northern Cyprus, Finland, Georgia, Latvia, Luxemberg, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine, England and Wales, Scotland, Gibralter, Guernsey, and Isle of Man.

Countries that have age of consent at 17: Cyprus, Ireland.

Countries that have age of consent at 18: Turkey
 
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