JFJ: Consensual sex between minors should not be a crime
Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2025 8:51 pm
https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lea ... t-be-crime
Sexual offences, particularly consensual sexual intercourse with a person under 16, make up the majority of cases referred to Jamaica’s Child Diversion Programme, launched in 2020 to redirect children in conflict with the law from the courts to rehabilitative interventions.
Between March 2020 and June 2024, such cases accounted for 62 per cent of the 1,517 referrals, ahead of assault-related offences (15%), property crimes like larceny (7%), disorderly conduct and indecent language (2%), and drug-related offences at less than one per cent.
For multiple reasons, human-rights group Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) is calling for the decriminalisation of consensual sexual intercourse between minors.