Age limit for legal sex to drop from 15 to 14 under new code

PRAGUE- Sexual intercourse in the Czech Republic will probably become legal as of the age of 14 instead of current 15, under the draft Penal Code that the lower house passed today and which is yet to be discussed by the Senate.
The bill not only lowers the age limit for criminal liability from 15 to 14, but also lowers the age limit for legal sex accordingly.

At present, it is unlawful to have sex with a person aged under 15.

In the parliamentary debate, deputies pointed to the connection between the criminal liability age limit and the age limit for sexual intercourse.

"People grow adult earlier in social, psychological as well as bodily terms, therefore the lowering of the age limit by one year is appropriate," Jiri Pospisil, senior opposition Civic Democrats' (ODS) shadow justice minister, told CTK today.

According to a poll conducted last year, 15 percent of the 9th grade pupils, i.e children aged 15-16, said they already had sex. Most of them said they had first sex at the age of 14, one in ten even at the age of 13.