Age of Consent
Macaskill, Mark,
Police
chief wants review of consent age; The Sunday Times November 26,
2006
ONE of the country's most senior police officers has called for a debate
on lowering the age of consent, suggesting that it could be reduced to
bring Scotland in line with other countries.
Chief superintendent Clive Murray, president of the Association of
Scottish Police Superintendents (ASPS), fears some children are being
unfairly criminalised by current legislation which does not
differentiate between "youthful natural instinct" and sexual
abuse.
Schofield, Kevin, Call
to reduce the age of consent to 14; The Scotsman,
Sat
17 Feb 2007
The controversy over the legal age of consent has been re- ignited after a Scots academic called for it to be lowered to 14.
Dr Matthew Waites, a lecturer in sociology at Glasgow University, said lowering the age limit from 16 to 14 for young people who are less than two years apart would recognise the fact that many teenagers regard sex as "normal behaviour".
His comments were described as "madness" by a family charity, but one of Scotland's leading child-protection bodies said under-16s who engage in consensual sex should not be
criminalised.
