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This petition was submitted during the 2019 to 2024 Parliament

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Closed petition Change the age of consent to 18

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The age of consent should be changed to 18 rather than 16, as a 16 year old is still considered a child in many respects.

The law of consent says that a person who is 16 or older may have sexual intercourse with anyone who is also 16 or older, but I don’t believe they are mature enough to decide this.

A person aged 16 cannot legally send an explicit image of themselves as such images would be considered 'child porn' . With this logic, a 16 year old is considered a child, but is legally able to have sexual intercourse with someone over the age of 18 (an adult) . These laws contradict one another. If a 16 year old is a child according to another law, then how is it protecting anyone?

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    This petition will stay open until 5 January 2023.