Or if he’d gone after someone that was actually sixteen…
If he knew and pursued it anyway, not really an excuse. Almost every adult in the country knows the legal age of consent. This bloke is a professional footballer that could presumably get into the pants of many impressionable and shallow women.
At the point he realises she’s fifteen, why isn’t he saying “hey ho! I’m Adam Johnson. Plenty more legal fish in the sea!”?
It is good that the law protects young girls from preditory men and it is also good that common sense prevails in many cases and that cases are judged on their merits, but I also wonder, given the number of girls who are having consensual sex at 15, whether the age of consent should be reconsidered?
When does the downward revision end?
Lower it to fifteen and then you can make the same case for 14 year olds.
The general age of consent is fine, but needs to be made less rigid between people of similar ages.
As I have a young daughter I think the legal age of consent should be raised to 35.
It should, in theory, work both ways. By this, it should also protect young boys from predatory older men and women. Whilst the latter in particular is perhaps less common it should still be treated as seriously.
Sadly, this isn’t always the case. Even law enforcement and the courts don’t take it seriously, which is pretty disgusting imo.
But where do we draw the line Pap? We say it is okay if he is 16 and she is 15. What if he is 17 or 18? And techically it is still illegal whatever age the boy/man is if the girl is not 16. I was 16 way back in 1970 and I know that some of the guys in my class were having sex with 15 year old girls. Some were dating, some were just shagging. I take your point about if you lower it to 15 then the next step will be 14 but I think that if many 15 year olds are already doing it illegally (dont know the figure but suspect that more start at 15 than 14) and we are okay with 16 year olds having sex with 15 year olds it would make sense to take these people out of the “criminal” bracket. maybe?
Follow existing successful legislation from overseas. I think the Netherlands’ Goldilocks provisions run from 14-20. There’s no case to lower the general age of consent, imo.
16 yr old boys are just as immature as 15 yr old girls whereas a man in his 20s should be significantly more mature and you could therefore argue that he is exploiting her immaturity… That’s why there should be an age distinction. There is no way the age limit should be lowered just because some under 16s are sexually active.
I’m confused, I thought that this girl first hit on Adam Johnson in a night club and made all the moves and made out that she was over 18!
Now I’m not condoning it but if she’s making all the moves shouldn’t he be just getting a slap on the wrists for not checking the facts out OR (more likely) I haven’t heard the full/proper story!
Looks pretty cut and dried to me, bTripz.
Johnson is accused of grooming the teenager between 30 December 2014 and 26 February 2015 and having met with her to carry out sexual activity knowing that she was under 16, the age of consent. Standing in the dock, Johnson answered “guilty”.
In a second count, Johnson is charged with intentionally touching the complainant in a sexual way knowing that she was under 16. He briefly consulted his legal team before answering “guilty, yeah”.
Originally posted by @Sadoldgit
just as well you cant be arrested for what you are thinking!
they only don’t bother at the moment cos it’s difficult to prove, but as soon as they get the Technology, popo will be all over thoughtcrime i guarantee it.
The age of consent has to be set somewhere; in the UK it’s been set at 16. Therefore, in the eyes of the law, a 16 year-old boy having sex with his 15 year-old girlfriend and a 60 year-old man having sex with his 15 month-old grandchild are committing the same offence, namely, rape.
In the eyes of most, however, theses two cases are not comparable; and, in reality, they are not comparable in the eyes of the law: the 16 year-old boy will more-than-likely receive only a caution.
However, I believe I’m right in saying that his name will be added to a sex offenders record. If so, will this be the same record as the grandfather gets added to; and, if so, are the names on this record graded in some way?
dunno but that’s one fucked up family, halo.
Quite. Perhaps I better hasten to add it’s not my family, Bear.
Thanks Pap, to be honest I haven’t really bothered doing any checking on this one so I was well out of the loop.
Did I tell everyone bout my Brother going on the Sex Offenders Register? What he used to do, was bunk off work, and then spend his days wandering around supermarkets, pinching women’s bums. It was all hush up from me, i.e. the whole family conspired to keep the info from me, cos they knew i would take the Piss, I only found out Later. I didn’t even get to watch him in Court 
.
Everyone says he had Breakdown, but I know better. He’s always been Weird. He’s a Computer, like pap.
They may be immature but they are not immature sexually. Also I grew up with 16 year olds who were sexual preditors and preyed on younger girls.They didnt rape them but they certainly expolited their niavety. You also say just because some under 16s are sexually active. I think the number is a lot more than some.
I reckon Adam Johnson is more immature than ur average 15yo girl. You only have to see him Interview. I’d rate his mental age as approx i.e. 11.
I’m no expert, so please don’t take this as gospel.
My understanding is that in the case of a 16 y/o sleeping with their 15 y/o partner, there would be seen as little reason to bring charges as it would not be in the ‘public interest’. As I understood it, the 16 y/o would be unlikely to face any charges, caution or be placed on a register.
It’d be grossly unjusitfied to punish what is effectively a kid in this manner for something like this.
There was a similar discussion on another thread a while back, and someone (Intiki? Hoofinruth? Sorry, can’t remember exactly who) seemed to have some experience on the topic. Be good to hear from them, whoever they were 
I have been looking for figures regarding sexual activity and have only come up with this so far according to the BBC. Apparently the average age for losing ones virginity is currently 16. It doesnt specify whether male or female so I assume it is an average for both sexes. As an average of course that means that a lot are at it under 16. Just out of interest the average age was 21 in the 1950s.