Volume 132, Issue 10A
Royal Gazette
13 February 2558
Note: The grounds for promulgation of this Act are as follows: Since the law which designates that a person who has committed an offence of intercourse with a child whose age is above thirteen years but not over fifteen years needs not to be punished if a court permits him to marry the child victim brings about a problem when the child is forced to marry the offender and the court is unable to check into it, the courts with the power to try juvenile and family cases should be designated as the courts with the power to try cases of such characteristics, to put into action the welfare protection measures under the law on child protection, or to consider and grant marriages subject to [certain] conditions which are to be fulfilled thereafter, so that the consent of the child to such a marriage can be checked in a more thorough and careful manner and be of real benefit to the child. Moreover, in the event that a court has issued any kind of order, the court [should be permitted to] punish the offender more lightly in any degree than that designated by the law for his offence, in order to prevent the offender from using the marriage to avoid the punishment. In addition, because the provisions on the offences relating to sexuality and offences against liberty committed upon children designate the ages of the children as an element of the offences, thus enabling offenders to raise a mistake or ignorance of the fact constituting an element of their offences to excuse themselves from the guilt or to entitle themselves to a more lenient punishment, it is appropriate to prohibit persons who commit offences relating to sexuality or offences against liberty upon children aged not over thirteen years from raising their ignorance of the children's age to discharge themselves from criminal liabilities, so that children would enjoy greater protection under the law. Furthermore, it is appropriate to improve the rates of punishment in accordance with the prevailing situation. Therefore, it is necessary to enact this Act.
