The ongoing debate over a close-in-age exception to the Sexual Offences Act warrants open and honest discussions.

The public discourse for an issue that’s sensitive, involving children, consent, criminal justice and protection from abuse, has often drifted toward extremes. The narratives present the matter either as a weakening of child protection laws or as an uncomplicated correction to outdated legislation. Which it’s neither.

The close-in-age exception (or ‘Romeo and Juliet law’) is a legal provision that prevents consensual sexual activity between young people from being prosecuted as statutory rape, provided the individuals’ ages and maturity levels are similar.