[LINK] Re: [STOP] the BSA in operation

[Heath Gibson]

At 10:25 AM 4/02/00 +1100, Danny Yee wrote:
>> "Carnal Knowledge" of girls under 16 is still a
>> crime with a gaol sentence in all states of Australia, no?
>
>I think in NSW it's ok down to 12 (14?) if the age difference between the
>participants is small enough. 

I think you'll find it's is still 16. However it is a defence to the offence if the 'victim'  is over 14 abd the 'offender' reasonably believed they were at least 16. Mind you, I'm going from memory when I studied criminal law a few years ago. The situation you describe s , however, the legal position in some European nationa dna also in some US states.


>With people on link unable to tell the sex of other participants, how much
>hope is there for age guessing?  And what does this imply for cybersex?

Cybersex creates all manner of nightmare scenarios. In California(?), a guy was prosecuted after a 19(?) y.o. girl pretending to be 14/15 reported him to the police. A simillar thing occured elsewhere in the US were a police officer posed as a teen. (can anyone say entrapment?). Interestingly though, in a different state, the courts held that net users can be expected to know the age of the people they communicate with and overtuned the conviction of someone for having cybersex and sending p0rn to someone under 16/18.

As for what the Australia poisitionw ould be.. who knows. There is an offence in NSW of inciting a person under 16 to commit and act of indecency. Perhaps people might run afoul of that.

But with so many people under and over-stating their age on the net the whole issue is very difficult.
 



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Heath Gibson    B.Com, B Ec(Hons)

Fight Internet Censorship

http://www.efa.org.au/Campaigns/99.html

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