Japan wants to raise the "age of consent" from 13 to 16 years
Date: 2023-09-12 Author: Karina Ziganova Categories: NEWS 18+
The current age of consent in Japan is the lowest among developed countries, including the G7 countries, which includes Japan.
In most of these countries, the age of consent is set at 14-16 years.
In Germany and Italy, for example, the age of consent is 14 years old, in France and Greece - 15, in Britain and many US states - 16.
In Japan, having raised the age of consent, they are going to leave one exception: sex between people who are at least 13 years old and whose age difference is no more than five years will not be punishable - that is, we are primarily talking about sex between teenagers.
The “age of sexual consent” is the age at which a person is considered and established by law to be able to knowingly consent to sexual intercourse. Accordingly, sex with a person under this age is a punishable offense.
Other changes Japan is preparing to make to its sex crimes laws include criminalizing the sexual exploitation of minors and expanding the definition of rape.
Currently, the law requires a rape victim in Japan to prove that she was subjected to violence and intimidation and that she had no opportunity to resist.
The working group of the Ministry of Justice did not change this provision, but added other criteria and circumstances, such as the effect of intoxicating substances, a surprise attack and psychological pressure.
In addition, the statute of limitations for filing a rape complaint will be increased from 10 to 15 years.
Justice Ministry spokesman Yusuke Asanuma told reporters that the additions to the law would not help or prevent rape victims from winning cases, but would simply allow for more reasonable convictions.
Reaction to protests
It was decided to review laws on sexual crimes in Japan in 2019, after demonstrations against cases where rapists were acquitted by courts.
In one case, the court released a man who had sex with his teenage daughter, despite the fact that it was proven in court that this happened against her will. This man, however, then lost his appeal and was nevertheless sent to prison.
In another case, the court acquitted a man accused of raping a woman who was very drunk. The court agreed that the man simply did not understand that the woman did not consent to sex.
A new version of laws on sexual crimes may be adopted in Japan as early as this year.
