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Japan has proposed raising the age of consent from 13 to 16 as a part of an overhaul of sex crime legislation after a string of controversial rape acquittals.
The Japanese Justice Ministry’s proposal also aims to criminalize the grooming of minors and broaden the definition of rape, as well as increasing the statute of limitations for reporting sexual assault from 10 to 15 years.
However, an exception will still be in place for intercourse between people who are at least 13 years old and have an age gap of less than five years.
In order to get a conviction, the current law for rape victims in Japan requires them to prove that there was “violence and intimidation” during the incident and that it was “impossible to resist.
