It is a vote in the form of a plebiscite which was expressed, Thursday, April 15, at the end of the second reading in the National Assembly of the bill to protect minors from crimes and sexual offenses and the ‘incest. The text, coming from the centrist ranks of the Senate, was definitively adopted unanimously by the 94 deputies present in the Chamber, after two and a half hours of debate.
It establishes an age threshold below which any sexual act between an adult and a minor under 15 is presumed to be coerced, a measure demanded for years by child protection associations. In the event of incest, this age threshold is raised to 18 years. But a condition of legal or de facto authority must be demonstrated to qualify as incest sexual assault or rape committed by family members other than ascendants, to the chagrin of these same associations.
“Major breakthrough”, “Historical”, greeted the deputies of all camps, welcoming that France finally joins, with this law, the list of countries having set up such an age threshold of non-consent. For Senator Annick Billon (Vendée, centrist Union), at the initiative of this bill, its establishment is a “Not decisive”. “From now on, the consent of a victim under the age of 15 will not be questioned, he will have been raped”, she greeted in a press release just after its adoption.
While, until now, the issue of children’s consent was considered by the magistrates responsible for deciding cases of rape, the new regime indeed institutes a new paradigm. Therefore, the law will punish the perpetrators of sexual penetration or any oral genital act performed on a minor under 15 years of age with twenty years’ imprisonment, without there being any need to examine the existence of violence. , constraint, threat or surprise to characterize rape. In the event of sexual assault, the prescribed penalty is ten years in prison.
Maintenance of the so-called “Romeo and Juliet” clause
“No adult will be able to say that a child under 15 agreed”, repeatedly hammered the Keeper of the Seals, Eric Dupond-Moretti. The principle suffers, however, from an exception, which the minister again defended before a three-quarters empty Chamber: that of the so-called “Romeo and Juliet” clause, which provides that the new regime does not apply if the adult and the minor are less than five years apart. “It is a fair exception and it is a necessary exception in terms of constitutionality”, insisted the minister, thus claiming “The defense of adolescent loves”.
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