Statutory rape is a crime that has critics over its application and scope. Some object to the use of the law against teenage boys but not the girls in a consensual affair. Others object to cases where age is concealed or close to the age of majority or the other partner. However, few people disagree that sex with a child can ever be truly consensual . . . outside of Finland. Finland’s Supreme Court recently rejected the appeal filed by prosecutors of a three-year prison sentence for sexual crimes. The lower courts rejected rape charges on the ground that the 10 year old girl consented to sex in 2016 with an adult man. The man, a 23-year-old asylum seeker, argued that he did not force the girl into the sexual relationship with him and the courts agreed.
Prosecutors sought not just a lower sentence but greater damages for the victim. However, the District Court and the Turku Appeal Court confined the conviction to aggravated sexual abuse of a minor and sentenced him to a three-year custodial sentence. Despite finding sexual intercourse with the child, the court rejected the rape charge due to the absence of evidence of violence against the child or incapacitation of the child.
Yet the victim was 10. What good is any notion of consent with a ten year old girl in a sexual relationship with a grown man?
The ruling has led to a call for the reexamination of the criminal code. However, it is hard to image a code that allows consent from 10 year old children.