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This petition was submitted during the 2017 to 2019 Parliament

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Closed petition Change age of majority and age of criminal responsibility to 16 years

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The Laws of our country are very complicated and are outdated. Currently, there is one law for having to be 16 to consent to sex. The age of majority, at which someone is no longer a child, is 18. Then another law of criminal responsibility when you are 10.

All of these things require consent. Having separate age requirements lacks logic. Currently one can consent to commit a crime but cannot consent to sex until 16 or other activities until 18, the age of majority in England and Wales and Northern Ireland. I feel it is much more appropriate that all of these examples are combined into one age and the most sensible and appropriate option is 16 years of age. This means no more loopholes in the Law and jurisprudence and simply it is all one age that one may consent lawfully to each transaction.

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    This petition will stay open until 6 November 2019.