To start off, I want to post an official section of the Criminal Code of Canada that refers to the Age of Consent:
Consent no defence
"150.1 (1) Subject to subsections (2) to (2.2), when an accused is charged with an offence under section 151 or 152 or subsection 153(1), 160(3) or 173(2) or is charged with an offence under section 271, 272 or 273 in respect of a complainant under the age of 16 years, it is not a defence that the complainant consented to the activity that forms the subject-matter of the charge."
I cannot speak for anyone other than myself, but seeing as how I don't really want to continue reading the document due to its language of legal terminology, I highly doubt many fourteen year olds actually take the time to leisurely read the age of consent laws. I do recall as a 14 year old myself in the past, I was not too keen on reading any laws and if I did, I probably would not understand it!
Hence one of our goals in implementing an alternate policy is to change the policy's formatting and (scary!) language. The original language is difficult to read and understand for the general public the policy would be better received if it were easily understood for all individuals, allowing the message to be clear and accessible for those affected.
Although this may be an idealistic goal and may be impossible to implement without a complete overhaul of all the Canadian legal documents, our objective would be to create an alternative document, one that is written for all to understand, especially for those young people to whom this law affects.
L.L.
3 comments:
I think it is far more important to inform these youths in school about what their rights are and what they are allowed to do in terms of sex... Even if you rewrite a policy and make it idiot proof, I don't know how many 14 year olds will actually look it up. I think somebody needs to tell them....
Thats what we will cover in our recommendations...Stay tuned! L.L.
These are crucial challenges in underswtanding each other...E
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