Introduce age-gap protections for 16–17-year-olds

Introduce age-gap protections for 16–17-year-olds — 6 signatures. Status: rejected.

Petition background

In addition to protecting those under 16, the law should introduce age-gap protections for 16–17-year-olds, allowing close-in-age relationships while preventing significantly older adults from being involved with teenagers.

Additional details

While the age of consent is 16, there are still risks of power imbalance, influence, and vulnerability when there are large age gaps. Current laws only cover specific situations like positions of trust, leaving a gap in protection. Clear age-gap rules would better safeguard young people while still allowing normal relationships between people of similar ages.

View this petition on the official UK Parliament website

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