Cooper says law on rape being tightened so adults cannot use consent as defence against charge of raping child under 16 – as it happened

From 16 Jun 2025Cooper says law on rape being tightened so adults cannot use consent as defence against charge of raping child under 16Cooper says the Casey report makes 12 recommendations, and the government will act on all of them, she says.In line with the first recommendation, the government will tighten the law on rape, she says.

double quotation markBaroness Casey’s first recommendation is we must see children as children. She concludes too many grooming gang cases have been dropped or downgraded from rape to lesser charges because a 13 to 15 year old is perceived to have been in love with or had consented to sex with the perpetrator.

So we will change the law to ensure that adults who engage in penetrative sex with a child under 16 face the most serious charge of rape, and we will work closely with the CPS and the police to ensure there are safeguards for consensual teenage relationships.

We will change the law so that those convicted for child prostitution offences while their rapists got off scot-free, will have their convictions disregarded and their criminal records expunged.

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