The age of consent in the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) is 16. In addition, all UK territories have their own local age of consent laws. At present, however, all of these areas also set the age of consent at 16. In the UK, there are no exceptions for people close to age. Two people under the age of consent can be prosecuted for sexual activity. Japan has several overlapping laws that deal with the age of consent. As a result, the age of consent varies considerably across the country. The three main laws that define the age of consent in Japan are the Japanese Penal Code, the Obscene Minors Laws, and the Civil Code. Each sets different guidelines for determining when sexual activity is acceptable. To add to the confusion, some of these guidelines apply to all of Japan, while others apply only to a subset of Japan`s 47 administrative regions or prefectures. The Belgian penal code had previously set 18 as the age of consent for homosexual relations.
This provision – Article 372a – was inserted in 1965 and repealed in 1985. The province of Vojvodina, a province in northern Serbia, had decriminalized homosexuality in 1978,[120] creating an equal age of consent for any sexual practice regardless of sex or sex. This lasted until Vojvodina lost its legislative power in 1990. The interpretation of the law is situational and left to the discretion of the prosecutor`s office and the courts, on the basis of relevant factors that can be taken into account in deciding whether the minor has actually been “desecrated”. For example, in 2008, two brothers, aged 19 and 20, were found not guilty of desecrating a girl, then 16 (until 2018, the age of consent was 18). Their sexual encounters were consensual, and it was clear that the girl had had several previous sexual affairs with several teenagers. [78] [79] In 2007, a 30-year-old man was convicted of desecrating a then 14-year-old boy. He had arranged a situation in which the boy came to his apartment; Due to childish curiosity and what the court considered the cunning of the adult man, the boy remained in the apartment, even though the man first showered and then committed the obscene acts. [80] There are also other cases where the perpetrators were convicted even though the circumstances were unclear, such as the case of a 35-year-old hotel manager with a 14-year-old girl on vacation,[81] three men aged 18, 19 and 20 with three 14-year-old girls[82] or another 46-year-old hotel manager and a 14-year-old boy. who had meetings over a longer period of time. [83] Most countries prohibit sexual relations with persons under the age of 16 or under the age of 18, but in some places the age of consent is as low as 11 or up to 20. But even within counties, it can vary greatly between men and women, and in cases of heterosexual and homosexual sex.
Until 1961, homosexual acts were illegal. After decriminalization, the age of consent for homosexual acts was 20 and remained so until 1978. Until 1999, the age of consent to such acts was set at 18 years, in accordance with article 199. In 2002, the Hungarian Constitutional Court repealed Article 199 and the age of consent for homosexual acts was lowered to 14 for heterosexual acts. The age of consent in San Marino is 14 years in accordance with Article 173. [117] According to Article 177, it is also illegal to “incite minors under the age of 18 to sexual corruption.” [118] United States: The age of consent is between 16 and 18 years. In some states, there is an age-related exemption commonly known as “Romeo and Juliet laws” to decriminalize consensual sex between two people who have not reached the age of consent, according to the independent website AgeofConsent.net. Article 171 of the Portuguese Penal Code sets the age of consent at 14 years, regardless of sex or sexual orientation, but article 173 prohibits sexual relations between adults and adolescents between the ages of 14 and 16 if it can be said that the adult has benefited from the adolescent`s inexperience, and article 172 further restricts it and prohibits sexual relations with adolescents between the ages of 16 and 18 by adults. to whom their education or support is entrusted.
[99] Articles 227 and 27 prohibit sexual relations with minors over the age of 15 (15, 16 or 17). “1° if they are committed by an ascendant or by another person having legal or de facto authority over the victim; (2) if they are committed by a person who abuses the authority conferred by his office. [34] The age of consent in Lithuania is 16 years, as established by Article 151.1 of the Lithuanian Criminal Code,[68] introduced by the draft law of 2 July 2010. [68] Male homosexual acts were illegal until 1791, when the old sodomy laws were removed from the penal code of that year.