(De)criminalizing adolescent sex : a rights-based assessment of age of consent laws in Eastern and Southern Africa

dc.contributor.authorKangaude, Godfrey Dalitso
dc.contributor.authorSkelton, Ann, 1961-
dc.date.accessioned2019-07-01T12:04:46Z
dc.date.available2019-07-01T12:04:46Z
dc.date.issued2018-10
dc.description.abstractAge of consent criminal laws imposed on African states during colonialism were inherently patriarchal and gender-stereotypic, and continue to influence country approaches toward adolescent consensual sexual conduct. There are two major policy positions: a punitive and a nonpunitive approach. Most countries adopt the punitive approach. Mostly, legislation does not explicitly criminalize consensual sexual conduct between adolescents, and this leaves a gray area to be filled in by social and cultural norms that perceive adolescent sexual conduct negatively. Punitive approaches have been justified as necessary to curb harms to adolescents resulting from sexual conduct, including teenage pregnancies and sexual abuse. Age of consent laws, especially in their original colonial formulation deny adolescents, especially girls, sexual autonomy and agency. States focus more on punishment than on taking measures to address the structural antecedents of harms associated with sexual intercourse. States should reform age of consent laws to decriminalize consensual sex between adolescents in accordance with recognized rights of the child.en_ZA
dc.description.departmentPrivate Lawen_ZA
dc.description.librarianam2019en_ZA
dc.description.urihttp://journals.sagepub.com/home/sgoen_ZA
dc.identifier.citationKangaude, G.D. & Skelton, A. 2018, '(De)criminalizing adolescent sex : a rights-based assessment of age of consent laws in Eastern and Southern Africa', Sage Open , vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 1-12.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn10.1177/2158244018806036
dc.identifier.issn2158-2440 (online)
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/70334
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherSageen_ZA
dc.rights© The Author(s) 2018. Creative Commons CC BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.en_ZA
dc.subjectAge of consenten_ZA
dc.subjectAdolescent sexualityen_ZA
dc.subjectSexual agencyen_ZA
dc.subjectColonialismen_ZA
dc.subjectCommittee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)en_ZA
dc.title(De)criminalizing adolescent sex : a rights-based assessment of age of consent laws in Eastern and Southern Africaen_ZA
dc.typeArticleen_ZA

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