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Feb 9, 2010
More minors having sex
A trend that's likely to continue
<!-- by line -->By Mavis Toh & Sujin Thomas
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The police said about six in 10 offenders in statutory rape cases were the girls' boyfriends. In many other cases, the male partners were friends and acquaintances. -- ST PHOTO: TERENCE TAN
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THERE has been a sharp rise in the number of young girls aged between 12 and 14 having sex, and this trend is likely to continue, the police have warned.
Police reports of such young girls having sex are treated as cases of statutory rape - even if the girls agreed to having sex, and knew their partners.
The problem is compounded by the fact that in a large number of such cases, the girls had sex with boys they knew, usually students aged between 13 and 19.
Last year saw 83 reports of statutory rape, up from 61 in 2008. In 2003, there were only nine such cases.
Several of last year's cases also involved adult men in their 20s and 30s who preyed on the girls via the Internet.
While older sex predators are dealt with harshly by the law, it is the trend of underage girls having sex with their young boyfriends that is worrying the authorities and those who deal with the young.
Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.
More minors having sex
A trend that's likely to continue
<!-- by line -->By Mavis Toh & Sujin Thomas
<!-- end by line -->
<!-- end left side bar -->
<!-- story content : start -->
THERE has been a sharp rise in the number of young girls aged between 12 and 14 having sex, and this trend is likely to continue, the police have warned.
Police reports of such young girls having sex are treated as cases of statutory rape - even if the girls agreed to having sex, and knew their partners.
The problem is compounded by the fact that in a large number of such cases, the girls had sex with boys they knew, usually students aged between 13 and 19.
Last year saw 83 reports of statutory rape, up from 61 in 2008. In 2003, there were only nine such cases.
Several of last year's cases also involved adult men in their 20s and 30s who preyed on the girls via the Internet.
While older sex predators are dealt with harshly by the law, it is the trend of underage girls having sex with their young boyfriends that is worrying the authorities and those who deal with the young.
Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.