"There is a certain amount of ignorance by the young people. In January, I did a case and the two 15-year-olds believed there was no crime because they both consented," George Soutar, president of the Advocates Association, told The Gleaner.

That served as a wake-up call and prosecutors and defence lawyers decided to team up with the Ministry of Education to take the message to schools about what is carnal abuse.

Enlightening teens

Yesterday, members of the association started their education programme at the Convent of Mercy, Alpha, where they spoke with some of the young ladies.

"The aim of this programme is to enlighten teenagers as to their rights, their responsibilities and to educate them about the law," defence attorney Vincent Wellesly said before the start of his presentation to the girls.

"Many teenagers are not aware that for a young man to have sex with a girl under 16, that is a crime," Wellesly added.

According to Wellesly, the pro-gramme aims to provide teens with the knowledge which could prevent them from committing crimes.

Acting Crown Counsel Nadine Atkinson-Flowers gets no joy out of prosecuting teenagers who commit carnal abuse because they are ignorant of the law, but that is a role she might have to play, working in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

"In a lot of circumstances, we find that the teenagers believe that because the young lady consented, it is fine. But what we are trying to let them understand is that unless the young lady is 16 years and above, sexual contact with her is illegal," Atkinson-Flowers told The Gleaner.

"We are specifically dealing with the teenage population, male and female who are not aware of the laws," Atkinson-Flowers added.