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Age of consent reform


Age of consent reform is efforts to change age of consent laws. Proposed reforms typically include raising, lowering, or abolishing the age of consent, applying (or not applying) close-in-age exemptions, changing penalties, or changing how cases are examined in court. A related issue is whether or not to apply ages of consent to homosexual relationships that are different from those applied to heterosexual relationships. Organized efforts have ranged from academic discussions to political petitions.

In the United States, many states have adopted close-in-age exemptions. These laws, known as "Romeo and Juliet laws" provide that a person can legally have consensual sex with a minor provided that he or she is not more than a given number of years older, generally four years, but sometimes some other number of years (such as three years in Connecticut). Some Romeo and Juliet laws (such as the law in Michigan and Florida) do not make it legal for a person below the age of consent to have sex with a slightly older person, but will merely exempt the older partner from sex offender registration.

Romeo and Juliet laws were passed in 2007 in Connecticut and Indiana. In Indiana, a change in the law decriminalizes consensual sex between adolescents if they are found by a court to be in a "dating relationship" with an age difference of four years or less and other states have adopted other reforms. Michigan passed a Romeo and Juliet Law in 2011.

These reforms have not been uncontroversial. In Texas, Governor Rick Perry vetoed Romeo and Juliet laws that had been passed by the legislature in 2009, but signed one in 2011 to go into effect in September of that year. A 2011 Romeo and Juliet bill failed to pass in the Illinois legislature. In the State v. Limon case, Kansas's Romeo and Juliet law was found to be unconstitutional because it excluded same-sex sexual conduct.

Some countries other than the United States also have Romeo and Juliet laws. Ireland's 2006 law has been contested because it treats girls differently from boys.

There have been many initiatives to raise the age of consent. Gratian, a canon lawyer in the 12th century, stated that consent could not take place before 7 years of age. The English government eventually decided on age of 12 for women as their limitation. At that time, the age was about 12 in most countries. Today it is usually set between 15 and 18.


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