- Target:
- House of Commons
- Region:
- Canada
This petition is closed.
The age of consent offers an abundance of protection to the world’s youth. However, certain aspects of what society means have been overlooked with this law; that is, individuality.
In order for the age of consent to be plausible in that applies to all persons, every individual would have to be of the same emotional, sexual, and intellectual maturity at the same age. Due to the prevalence of individuality in all of these facets, the age of consent can not be an equation of a certain age simply equalling said categories of maturity.
The remedy for this is to analyze each case regarding a violation of the age of consent and consider the individuals involved on a criterion of more than age. An under-aged person is not necessarily mature enough to consent to sexual activity with an adult, however, by the same token they are not necessary too immature to do so either.
People develop at various rates and it is therefore crucial to stop presumptuously entitling people who engage in sexual relationships with under-aged persons as predators or criminals. That is not to say these people do not exist, but rather to show that they do not exist in all cases.
Simply reaching the age of consent does not mean that a person is mature enough to consent to sexual activity, nor does not being the age of consent mean that one is not mature enough to consent to such activity. The purpose of this petition is not to lower the age of consent or abolish it by any means, but rather to change the law so it can permit the judicial system to look at the individuals in such cases as opposed to categorizing such relations as criminal because they fit one category. This category is age; it is the only factor of the individual being considered when such cases arise. All other facets of an individual are not allowed to be viewed in the law; maturity of the individual (be it sexual, emotional, or intellectual) is not of consideration despite its direct relevance.
It is for this reason that this petition is being proposed.
The law changes as society changes. Today, society is encouraging individuality as long as it does not harm another. Under the constitution, limiting one’s freedoms so they do not harm another is ‘reasonably justifiable’. However, it is not justifiable to simply assume that certain actions harm another based on age and age alone. The age of consent must not be a concrete determination of an individual’s maturity.
Therefore, this petition was created to reform the law into allowing people to analyze the individual and actually determine if such sexual engagements are in fact harmful.
It is desired that the sections of the criminal code involving the age of consent are amended so as to permit the judicial system to analyse the individual’s involved in such cases as opposed to simply being limited to the consideration of age.
Due to individuality’s prevalence in the maturity in all aspects a person, the law should be able to consider such facets of involved individuals in order to determine whether or not illegal sexual activity was harmful to the under aged person.
It can not be assumed that such harm or trauma was endured by simply looking at age. Therefore, this petition will allow the judicial system to consider emotional, intellectual, and sexual maturity when judging cases regarding the violations of the age of consent.
The Consider Individuality in determining the legality of consensual Sex petition to House of Commons was written by Ashley and is in the category Law Reform at GoPetition.