consent, age of

Age at which consent may legally be given to sexual intercourse by a girl or boy.

In the UK the age of consent is 16 for both heterosexuals (since 1885) and homosexuals (since 2000).

In the USA it varies according to state statutes.

History The Criminal Law Amendment Act (1885) raised the age of consent from 13 to 16, and that of abduction from 16 to 18, after a campaign by William Thomas Stead (1849-1912), editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, exposed the white slave trade from England to Paris and Brussels. Stead's purchase of a girl to demonstrate the existence of the trade led to his prosecution, conviction, and imprisonment for three months.

In Britain, homosexuality ceased to be illegal over the age of 21 in 1967, and the age of consent was lowered to 18 in 1994. UK MPs in late June 1998 voted overwhelmingly to lower the age of consent for homosexuals from 18 to 16. However, the House of Lords in late July decisively threw out the amendment by 290 votes to 122. Two further bills were thrown out by the House of Lords in 1999 and 2000. In November 2000 the House of Commons used the Parliament Act to push through the bill; the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act, lowering the age of consent for homosexuals to 16, became law in December 2000.