As the current law stands, the Sexual Offences Act 2003 deems any sexual relations between 13 – 15 year olds, even if consensual, to be illegal.
Sections 9-13 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 essentially holds those under 16 as being incapable to consent, with the effect seen to be a criminalisation upon all consensual sexual activity among under-16s.
Before establishing whether there is a possible need for the reform of consensual sex between this age group, it is crucial to develop an analysis and evaluation of the issues raised by the topic. An outline of the historical development of the law in this area would be beneficial to gain awareness of the pre-existing and existing difficulties surrounding the law.
The first Sexual Offences Act was created in 1956, an ‘Act to consolidate the statute law of England and Wales relating to sexual crimes, to the abduction, procuration and prostitution of women and to kindred offences, and to make such adaptations of statutes extending beyond England and Wales as are needed in consequence of that consolidation’. Eleven years later, the 1956 Act was amended by the Sexual Offences Act 1967, changing ‘the law of England and Wales relating to homosexual acts.. This too was soon to be amended by the Sexual Offences Act 1985, dealing with the ‘provision for penalising in certain circumstances the soliciting of women for sexual purposes by men, and to increase the penalties under the for certain offences against women.’ In 1993, the Sexual Offences Act ‘abolished the presumption that in criminal law, a boy under fourteen is in capable of sexual intercourse.’ Finally, the current Sexual Offences Act (2003), amended the previous Act ‘to make new provision about sexual offences, their prevention and the protection of children from harm from other sexual acts, and for connected purposes.’
