Age of Consent

In the United States, you are legally considered an adult at the age of 18 and can do adult things legally, such as smoke and join the military. The age of consent, which means you can legally have sex, is also 18.

In the United Kingdom, you can have sex legally at the age of 16 since that is the age of consent there. However, does that also mean that you are legally considered an adult at the age of 16 or is that age 18 just like in the United States?

 

You're considered an adult at 18 in the UK also.

The age of consent is 16, and up until a few years ago you could buy lottery tickets, cigarettes and get married at that age too, but they changed it to 18. It sounds silly because you can technically legally start a family at 16 but you can't marry.

 

What is up for discussion?

 

not true every state's age of consent is different

like nj's is sixteen[DOUBLEPOST=1405032655][/DOUBLEPOST]in fact most of the united states [ thirty-one states ] follow the sixteen age of consent

 

I think age of consent and age of being an adult are two different things. Being able to legally have sex is one thing. The age of 18 is more of a turning point in life. It's where you really start making decisions as an independent person.

 

I thought our age of consent was still 16 and you can get married then but you need your parents permission. 18 is when you are fully considered an adult by society's standards and you have to get CRB's and can buy alcohol and sharp things and get married without your parents permission.

 

I think it differs depending on where you are in the UK - In Scotland, if you are aged between 16-18 you do not have to have parental consent to get married. In England and Wales if you are under 18 you need parental consent. In Northern Ireland it's 17 with consent but 18 otherwise.

 

Here you can get married at 18, but only with parent's permission. You can get married without parent's permission when you hit 21. Age of consent is 18. Honestly, I think you become an adult at 18. As for other country's that have lower ages of consent (Japan's is 13), I think it just lets you do more things, but that doesn't make you technically an adult yet, if you are still under the protection of your parent or guardian.