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Closed Make it mandatory for 16 and 17 year olds accused of rape to be tried as adults

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33% of those who contact Rape Crisis Centres are under the age of 25. In the current justice system a sex offender who is aged 16 or 17 can only be tried as an adult at the discretion of a judge.
The majority of these sex offenders are sent to youth court, where the maximum sentence is 2 years.

With the age of sexual consent set at 16 in the UK it would be expected that individuals above this age are able to recognise when consent is not present. For this reason these individuals should be tried as adults in Crown Court.

A sentence of 2 years compared to the years of emotional torment suffered by victims of these crimes is outrageous. Stronger sentencing for these individuals would only serve to encourage more victims to report these crimes to the police and to achieve the justice that they deserve.

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    This petition will stay open until 3 May 2017.