What Is Legal Age in Thailand

Age of consent laws vary considerably from country to country. Most countries require young people to be at least 14 years old before having sex. But there are exceptions. Angola and the Philippines have both set the age of consent at 12, the lowest in the world. Several other countries, including Niger and Japan, have set the age of consent at 13 – although Japan has notoriously inconsistent consent laws that give different ages of consent ranging from 13 to 20 depending on where you are in the country. In addition, several countries in Asia and Africa require individuals to be married before they can legally have sex. These include Libya, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, all of which are very conservative on issues of gender and sexuality. Articles 372 and 373 make it illegal to buy or sell minors for the purpose of prostitution. In addition, section 78 of the Children Act 2013 requires any person who has effective responsibility or supervision of a child (redefined by law as a person under the age of 18) to seduce or induce the child into prostitution. [33] No matter what other tourists tell you about leniency toward underage tourists and alcohol, Thai law is Thai law. And Thai police have publicly stated that they are cracking down on underage drinking more than at any time since the pandemic began. I find it very hard to believe that some of these people who list terrible problems actually know what really happened.

I am married to an educated Thai woman from Bangkok, whom I met in 2005 (and who has now been with her for over 15 years in 2021). I have also lived in Thailand for over 4 years in many different places, from the Malaysian border to Mai Sai to the northern border. Since I was retired and loved to travel a lot and knew a number of foreigners and Thais there, I stayed in about 20 different places across the country for a month or more and never, not once, did I feel that my safety (or my wife`s) was in danger. Is it possible to have a problem in Thailand? Sure, but having retired from U.S. federal law enforcement, I know the U.S. isn`t really a safe place. When it comes to overall crime statistics, both the United States and Thailand have problems. Gun crime: The United States has 6 times as many as Thailand. The rate of deliberate killing is virtually identical.

Rape: The United States has 4 times more than Thailand per equal number of people. www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/Thailand/United-States/Crime/Violent-crime The bottom line is that if you compare the statistics, I will live happily in Thailand without worries. By the way, I also spent several years in 19 other countries that are less than the first world in Central/South America and Asia, if that makes a difference. So what happens if someone younger than the age of consent participates in a sexual act? If a person over the age of consent engages in a sexual act with a person who has not yet reached the age of consent, that act would be considered “lawful rape” and the person over the age of consent would be charged. In some jurisdictions, any sexual act in which all participants are minors is considered legal rape (4). You know, I`ve been living in Thailand for over 10 years, I`m back in Canada now, but I`m coming back soon. I have to say, after reading all these stories, it`s the same that`s going on in every country in the world. In all my years in Thailand, I have never experienced anything like it, as people here describe it. That`s ridiculous. I mean, come on, guys. You might be hit by a bus crossing the street at home.

People like to dwell on the negative. The simple fact is that I have never had such problems. What for? I am a kind and respectful person who does not get involved in shady characters or criminal activities, which is the case in any country. It is one of the best countries in the world. Everyone who has a problem is doing something wrong. Randall The underwear law is misinterpreted. Nowhere in the penal code (translation here: www.thailandlawonline.com/table-of-contents/thailand-criminal-law-translation) is it mentioned not to wear underwear. It simply says that you cannot wear anything but your underwear in public. As mentioned above, sexual intercourse with a minor under the age of 18 can be considered a compound offense, regardless of consent.

Therefore, 18-year-olds who have sex with a minor aged 15, 16 or 17 can be prosecuted for this “hybrid offence” if one of the parties involved (in most cases on the side of the girls or parents) regretted what they had done and then decided to file a complaint against the other party (10). Since Thailand is known for sex tourism, the laws and fees for sex businesses and their consumers are unclear and are mostly in the “grey area” as the reality is different from what is stated in the law. The “age of consent” has been defined as the minimum age for a person deemed legally capable of consenting to participate in sexual acts. It has been said that a person younger than the age of consent (or a minor) cannot legally prove that a sexual act in which he or she participated was consensual. In other words, they are not old enough to legally consent to sex (4). But cannabis smoked or consumed recreationally usually has a much higher percentage of THC than that. So Thailand has essentially legalized weak forms of cannabis that don`t get you high. So, if you decide to buy marijuana during your Thailand vacation, you`d better make sure it only contains the legal amount of THC. And how do you know? Just forget about recreational drugs in Thailand, where there are many legal ways to find joy.

In Europe, the legal drinking age is between 16 and 18, in Australia, New Zealand and parts of Canada it is 18. In Thailand, you have to be 20 years old to legally buy alcohol. This may come as a surprise to some readers, as many teenage tourists drink alcohol while partying in Thailand. Thirty-one states have set the age of consent at 16, eight at 17 and eleven at 18. Twenty-six states have “Romeo and Juliet” laws, or age limit laws, that legalize sexual activity between underage participants if they are close enough to each other in age. The maximum age differences in these laws vary from state to state. For example, in Colorado, the age of consent is 17, but people under 15 can consent to a partner under four years older, and those under 15 or 16 can consent to a partner up to 10 years older. By comparison, Arizona law sets the age of consent at 18, allowing teens between the ages of 15 and 17 to consent to sex with partners under 24 months of age.