A so -called “Romeo and Julieta” clause has one leg added to the new plans for mandatory concerns about child sexual abuse.
The Crime and Surveillance bill exposes a new duty to teachers, general doctors and other professionals to inform Conerns or face criminal sanctions.
The mandatory reports were one of the 20 recommendations of independent research on child sexual abuse (IICSA) after the scandal of cleaning gangs.
However, an exclusion has an aggregate leg for consensual sexual intercourse among adolescents about 13 years, provided there are no concerns about damage.
Romeo and Julieta de Shakespeare were lovers of fictitious teenagers, whose forbidden romance ended in tragedy, but who have become synonymous with youth love.
The Minister of Labor Protection, Jess Phillips, who presented the duration of the amendment, a hearing of the Committee on the bill, said he wanted to provide “a certain discretion” in a limited number of situations “to avoid involuntary consequences.”
Phillips said: “This avoids situations like two adolescents kisses that have to be reported to the authorities by a teacher who knows them both …
“We also want to deter young people from accessing the services designed to sacrifice support to address their own harmful sexual behavior.”
The clause would not apply if any of the children was under 13, if there was suspicion of coercion or abuse, or if there were a significant differentiation in age or maturity.
Responding in the debate, the conservative deputy Harriet Cross supported the clause, which said that he acknowledged that the age differences were important in thesis relationships.
“For example, if a 14 -year -old girl is sexual with a 17 -year -old boy, even if she says she has consented, a teacher or adult could uncomfortable with the dynamics of power and the possible,” Sater. “The adult could decide that it is appropriate to inform in that case.
“On the other hand, two 14 -year -old children probably fall under exemption.”
Cross said it would allow professionals to use their judgment, but emphasized that the bar for not informing should be high.
“He acknowledges that not all sexual activity involving under 18 is a state of state alarm or intervention,” he said.
“Specifically, it allows professionals to refrain from informing consensual sexual activity among the old teenagers when they believe there is no abuse or exploitation at stake: it is basically an exemption from Romeo and Julieta.
“… The exemption is not about being condemned at a minor, it is proportionality.”
