Between minors who are 14 years old and over
Below 16 years, we consider that a minor cannot consent to sexual intercourse. Consequence: if an adult has sex with a 14 -year -old girl, for example, it is automatically considered rape.
This is an important change arising from the reform of the penal code. Before, a person who had sex granted with a minor between 14 and 16 years old risked a condemnation for modesty (and not for rape).
However, the new device has provided for some exceptions in order to find a balance between sexual self -determination of young people and the protection of minors.
How do sexual memories influence our sexuality and our perception of relationships?
A minor who has reached the age of fourteen accomplished but not the age of sixteen years old can freely consent if the age difference with the other person is not more than three years. In other words: a 15 and a half year old teenager can go out with an 18 -year -old boy (so he is major) but not with another 19 years old. And a 14 -year -old girl cannot “have a lease” with an 18 -year -old boy because more than three years ago.
Article 417/6 still stipulates that there is no offense between minors who are at least 14 years old, if they are both agree, even if their age difference is greater than three years.
Avoid criminalizing relations between consenting young people
In a judgment rendered on Thursday, the Constitutional Court estimated that one of the conditions of this system was discriminatory, forcing the legislator to review the condition of maximum age difference of 3 years for a minor aged between 14 and 16 to consent to sex with an adult.
The Brussels Criminal Court found itself faced with a situation where an adult was prosecuted criminally for having had several sexual relations granted with a 14 -year -old girl and then 15 years old – they were just over three years apart. The same boy could not have been prosecuted criminally if the age difference between them had been less than 3 years.
The Court stresses that this condition imposed by the legislator aimed that the two young people have relatively comparable maturity. The absence of maximum age difference for sexual relations between minors from 14 years old wanted to avoid criminalizing sexual relations between consenting young people.
Incoherent situations
However, the Court notes that this leads to incoherent situations. For example, a boy who, on the day of his 18th birthday, has sex granted with his 14 -year -old girlfriend and eleven months committed an offense, even if they had been in a relationship for many months and their sexual relations made between minors could not be punished.
The legislator will have to review his copy. The Court observes that these incoherent situations could not occur if the maximum age difference was four years instead of three. Welcome …
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