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France decides that sex with child under 15 is automatically rape
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The French parliament on Thursday adopted legislation that characterises sex with a child under the age of 15 as rape and punishable by up to 20 years in jail, bringing its penal code closer in line with many other Western nations.
Sex between an adult and a child younger than 15 was already illegal but could only be prosecuted as rape if there was proof the minor was coerced through violence, constraint or surprise. Without proof of coercion, it was prosecuted as the lesser offence of a ‘sexual act on a minor’
“This is an historic law for our children and our society,” Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti told the National Assembly.
“No adult aggressor will be able to claim the consent of a minor younger than 15-years-old.”
The vote in favour of the bill was unanimous at its final reading, the Assembly said on Twitter.
There had been concerns from some lawmakers that an age of consent below which sex automatically constituted rape might criminalise a consensual sexual relationship between a minor and a person only a few years older.