Questions 1-15

■About the Post

This post is the answer to Question 1-15 of the post, "30 Questions We Are Planning to Answer." There will be a APA style reference to all the information that was used to create this post at the bottom of the page with hyperlinks as well.

1. What is the average age of consent?
    
    Age of consent varies from 12 to 21 years old around the world, and the average age of consent is 16 years old.

2. Does Japan have the lowest age of consent?

    It is commonly believed that Nigeria has the lowest age of consent at 11 in all 195 countries, but in reality Angola currently has the lowest age of consent at 12 formerly along with Philippine. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte signed a bill in March 2022 that changed their age of consent to 16.

3. Which country has the highest age of consent?

    Bahrain, which is a country located in the coast of Saudi Arabia and beside Qatar and Cameroon which is located beside Nigeria has the age of consent of 21-years-old. There are also some country that has different age of consent for hetero and homo relationship. For example such country as Gabon, Madagascar, and Benin has their homo relationship age of consent set at 21.

4. What is the “Romeo and Juliet” law?

    Romeo and Juliet law is a common law seen in various country such as U.S. and France, but is most prominent in U.S. This law prevents those who are close age to be prosecuted harshly or sometimes entirely depending on how their law in constructed. For example in Florida Law Section 943.04354 that was codified into the law states that even if someone that is 18 has a sexual activity with someone under 18 they may be given lighter sentence depending on the situation they are put in.

5. When did Japan make their age of consent to 13?

    In 1907 during the Meiji Period the current criminal code was set in place and the section 176 and 177 states that age of consent is 13, before this law was codified the age of consent was 12 but it was raised by one after consideration of female growth. There has not been any major change to the law since its debut.

6. How many % of the sexual violence was not reported in Japan?

    According to the research conducted in 2019 by Ministry of Justice it is believed that only about 14% of sexual assault is reported to the authority. Other related crime such as stalker and domestic violence are also reported at a low rate of 21% and 11%. Those who took the research has stated that some of the reason that they decided to not report the crime included such reasoning as "Didn't know what they should have done" and "Didn't want other people to know what happened to them."

7. Is Japan's low age of consent well known around the world?

    According to the survey that I conducted on SurveyMonkey which included 40 respondents over 60% of answer stated that they knew about how low the age of consent in Japan is. Considering that survey result and the fact that there are foreign media that tackles the topic of age of consent in Japan one can say that although it may not be considered a common knowledge, one can say that it is fairly well known.

8. Why does the world hate the idea of lowering the age of consent?

    Some of the reason why many believe that age of consent should not be lowered is because they feel that the law does not reflect the growth of teenagers mentally even if they are fully capable physically. It may also come from the difference of cultural aspects which can influence the age of consent as well.

9. Which country has changed their law regarding age of consent recently?

    As stated in question 2 Philippines changed their age of consent to 16 recently on March 2022, and it was to put strict enforcement policy due to the fact that Philippines was slowly becoming a global hotspot for child trafficking and sexual abuse of a child.

10. Why is the age of consent something that can be easily changed?

    Compared to such constitutional law as 2nd amendment in U.S. in many countries age of consent reform can be changed much easier than other laws. For example the easiest way for Japan to change the age of consent law is to codify the 淫行条例 that is seen in many prefecture that prohibits adults from commuting sexual activity and pay for sexual activity with those who are under such age as 18 or 16 depending on the prefecture.

11. Why is the average age of consent 16?

    The age of consent averages around 16 due to the fact that many country has compulsory education until the age of 16. There are such country as France and Israel that require 15 years of compulsory education while some country such as Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Madagascar that only has 5 years of compulsory education. There can also be discrepancy of compulsory education depending on the area of a country. For example Alaska requires student to attend school until they are or finish 12th grade, meanwhile Arizona only requires them to be in school until they finish 10th grade.

12. Should age of consent in Japan be higher? Should it be lower?

    There are some voices by both inside and outside of Japan saying that Japan's age of consent is extremely low when compared to other first world country such as UK, Canada, and U.S. However there are some that believe that changing the law regarding the age of consent will not as be effective as some believe due the fact that Prefectural Ordinance of Juvenile Protection does the similar job but there are still people who disobey the law regardless of what the regulation says.

13. Is there an inequality of man and woman in terms of age of consent?

    In Japan the law states that if you are male that is between the age of 18-20 who conducted sexual activity with someone that is under the age of 13 you are convicted with felony as an adult, while female that is between the age of 18-20 who conducted sexual activity with someone that is under the age of 13 you are you are only given misdemeanor as an adult. There is also a blog post by Rob Port of sayanythingblog.com that lists some cases in U.S. where female was given lighter sentencing and sometimes not being listed as a child predator, so it is not a problem solely based only in Japan.

14. What are the reasons for countries that increased their age of consent recently?

    As stated previously on both question 2 and 9 Philippines changed their age of consent to 16 on March 2022 by President Rodrigo Duterte due to the fact that Philippines was slowly becoming a hotbed for sexual abuse of children. He also signed another bill previously on January 2022 which completely banned child marriage, which has been long awaited due to the fact that one in six girls were forced into a wedlock before the age of 18.

15. What are the reasons to lower the age of consent if it is going to happen?

    One of the main reason that some believe that age of consent should actually be lowered is decriminalization for those who have sexual activity while under the age. Another reason that some believe age of consent should be lower is because it gives children much more freedom from their parents to let them avoid exploitation. However many country and local legislation has laws and regulation that reduces or removes the prosecution for said cases, so these reason are much more minor in many of the major countries.

■Links & References

Question 1:

World Population Review. (2022). Age of Consent by Country 2022.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/age-of-consent-by-country

PopulationU. (2022). Age of Consent by Country.

https://www.populationu.com/gen/age-of-consent-by-country

Question 2:

AgeOfConsent. (n.a.). Age of Consent in Angola.

https://www.ageofconsent.net/world/angola

The Asean Post. (March 9th, 2022). Philippines Raises Age Of Consent To 16.

https://theaseanpost.com/geopolitics/2022/mar/09/philippines-raises-age-sexual-consent-16

Question 3:

AgeOfConsent. (n.a.). Age of Consent in Bahrain.

https://www.ageofconsent.net/world/bahrain

WIPO Lex. (May 31st, 1963). Gabon Code Penal.

https://wipolex.wipo.int/en/text/493430

Sexual Rights Database. (Last Updated: June 14, 2016). Benin.

https://sexualrightsdatabase.org/countries/482/Benin

AfricanChildForum. (1972). Madagascar : Legislation : Code Penal du 17 juin 1972 mis a jour au 30 juin 1998.

http://www.africanchildforum.org/clr/Legislation%20Per%20Country/madagascar/madagascar_penal_1972_fr.pdf

Question 4:

USLegal.com. (n.a.). Romeo and Juliet Law Legal Definition.

https://definitions.uslegal.com/r/romeo-and-juliet-law/

Perlet & Shiner, P.A. (December 2nd, 2016). What is the Florida "Romeo and Juliet" Law? 

https://www.palmbeachdefense.com/what-is-the-florida-romeo-juliet-law.

Question 5:

AgeOfConsent. (n.a.). Age of Consent in Japan.

https://www.ageofconsent.net/world/japan

法令リード. (n.a.). 刑法│e-Gov法令検索.
https://hourei.net/law/140AC0000000045

Question 6:

日本経済新聞. (November 29th, 2019). 性被害の申告14％、19年犯罪白書　DVなども低迷.

https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO52756330Z21C19A1CR0000/

Ministry of Justice. (2004). 第２回犯罪被害実態（暗数）調査（第２報告）.

https://www.moj.go.jp/housouken/housouken03_houkoku39.html

Question 7:

Shikauchi, Shohta. (2022). Survey of Age of Consent Regarding Sexual Activity.

https://jp.surveymonkey.com/r/5NX3GDV

Johnston, Eric. (August 2nd, 2021). Pressure builds over raising Japan's age of consent.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/08/02/national/japan-age-of-consent-debate/

Question 8:

Richards, Michael. (April 4th, 2018). Why the age of sexual consent continues to be a worldwide challenge.

https://theconversation.com/why-the-age-of-sexual-consent-continues-to-be-a-worldwide-challenge-94334

Drobac, Jennifer. (November 20th, 2017). Age-of-consent laws don’t reflect teenage psychology. Here’s how to fix them.

https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/11/20/16677180/age-consent-teenage-psychology-law-roy-moore

Question 9

CNN Philippines Staff. (March 7th, 2022). PH raises age of sexual consent from 12 to 16.

https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2022/3/7/Age-of-sexual-consent-Philippines-law.html

The Asean Post. (March 9th, 2022). Philippines Raises Age Of Consent To 16.

https://theaseanpost.com/geopolitics/2022/mar/09/philippines-raises-age-sexual-consent-16

Question 10:

Elving, Ron. (March 1st, 2018). Repeal The Second Amendment? That's Not So Simple. Here's What It Would Take.

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/01/589397317/repeal-the-second-amendment-thats-not-so-simple-here-s-what-it-would-take

Akira, Miyazaki. (July 30th, 2021). 児童買春の罪と、青少年育成条例違反（淫行条例違反）の違いとは？

https://www.daylight-law.jp/criminal/sei/zido/qa2/

Question 11:

Wondering Maps. (2020). Compulsory Education per Country in Years.

https://wonderingmaps.com/compulsory-education/

National Center for Education Statistics. (2017). Table 5.1. Compulsory school attendance laws, minimum and maximum age limits for required free education, by state: 2017.

https://nces.ed.gov/programs/statereform/tab5_1.asp

Question 12:

NHK. (October 1st, 2021). 性交同意年齢とは？なぜ13歳？世界では…＜用語解説＞.

https://www.nhk.or.jp/gendai/comment/0026/topic029.html

Cabinet Office. (2008). 都道府県青少年保護育成条例集.

https://www8.cao.go.jp/youth/kenkyu/jourei/pdf_index.html

Question 13:

helpto.pro. (February 23rd, 2020). Age of consent in Japan and why it so low?.

http://helpto.pro/age-of-consent-in-japan-and-why-it-so-low/

Port, Rob. (September 7th, 2016). Why Do Women Get Lighter Sentences Than Men When It Comes to Having Sex With Children?

https://www.sayanythingblog.com/entry/women-get-lighter-sentences-men-comes-sex-children/

Question 14:

The Asean Post. (March 9th, 2022). Philippines Raises Age Of Consent To 16.

https://theaseanpost.com/geopolitics/2022/mar/09/philippines-raises-age-sexual-consent-16

Parrocha, Azer. (January 6th, 2022). Duterte signs law criminalizing child marriage.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1164695

Question 15:

Graham, Philip. (August 2018). Against the Stream: lowering the age of consent.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6436061/

Laurence, H. (August 3rd 2019). Should the age of consent be lowered?

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/should-age-sexual-consent-be-lowered-ncna1038916