Dublin
In its rush to pass a statutory rape law this week, the Irish legislature accidentally criminalized sex between consenting 16-year-olds. It all started last week, when the Irish Supreme Court struck down the country’s statutory rape law, which automatically classified sex between an adult and a child younger than 15 as rape. The court freed a 41-year-old who was convicted of rape after admitting that he got a 12-year-old girl drunk and had sex with her. It ruled that the rape law was unconstitutional because it didn’t allow the man to plead ignorance of the girl’s age. Appalled at the release, the Irish legislature passed a new law that allows such a defense, and the man was re-arrested. But the new law, which raised the age of consent to 17, was worded in such a manner that high school sweethearts can now be arrested for getting too intimate.
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