Let’s say you catch your 13 year old daughter and her boyfriend (also 13) kissing in her room.
Did you know that underage kissing, children 12 to 16 years, is a crime in terms of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act 32 of 2007?
According to this act consensual underage sexual activity/ penetration/ petting/ kissing is a crime. Any person who fails to report it could face possible criminal prosecution. Yes, that means that you as a parent or guardian could be charged with a crime should you fail to report your underage daughter’s smooching session.
Enter the Teddy Bear Clinic Constitutional Court case (2014):
· Children’s rights activists argued that the criminalization of consensual underage sexual activity causes
pregnant girls to avoid clinics and hospitals as they and their partners fear criminal charges;
· The Department of Justice on the other hand argued that decriminalization would negatively impact the already escalating rate of
sexual violence among young children;
· The Court, however, found in favour of Teddy Bear Clinic and ruled that the criminalization of consensual underage sexual activity infringes a teenager’s right to
dignity and privacy;
· The Court gave Parliament more than a year to
change the Sexual Offences Act.
Enter the new draft rules which have yet to come into effect:
· Two
consenting minors aged 12 to 16 will not face criminal charges following sexual activity;
· It remains a serious crime for an adult to engage in sexual activity with a minor younger than 16,
regardless of the minor’s consent;
· A person aged 16 or 17 years will not face criminal charges for consensual sexual activity with an underage minor, provided t
he age difference is no more than two years.
“Every child has his or her own dignity. If a child is to be constitutionally imagined as an individual with a distinctive personality, and not merely as a miniature adult waiting to reach full size, he or she cannot be treated as a mere extension of his or her parents, umbilically destined to sink or swim with them.”
- S v M (Centre for Child Law as Amicus Curiae) para 18:
Yours faithfully,
Legal Hero
www.legalhero.co.za