The offence of luring a child (section 172.1 of the Criminal Code) punishes those who communicate with a person believed to be under the age of 16 years for the purpose of facilitating a sexual offence, such as sexual interference. The elements of the child luring offence are:
The Laws that Apply to Your Child when Charged with a Crime
If your child is charged with a criminal offence there are a number of laws that may apply to his or her situation. Think of the criminal justice system like a puzzle, with a lot of smaller pieces of law that fit together to make up the bigger picture. The main acts to be considered are: the Criminal Code, the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Youth Criminal Justice Act. (There are others, like the Canada Evidence Act, that also play a role but less often).
What is Sexual Exploitation?
Although the age of consent in Canada is 16, in some cases you can still be convicted of an offence for engaging in sexual activity with someone over the age of 16 but under the age of 18. If you are in a position of trust or authority towards a young person, or the young person is in a relationship of dependency with you, or exploitative of the young person, you could be convicted of the offence of sexual exploitation.
What is Invitation to Sexual Touching?
If you have been charged with Invitation to Sexual Touching pursuant to s. 152 of the Criminal Code you may be wondering what exactly this allegation involves. The section states that every person who, for a sexual purpose, invites, counsels or incites a person under the age of 16 years to touch, directly or indirectly, with a part of the body or with an object, including the body of the person who invites, counsels or incites, is guilty of an offence.
What is Sexual Interference?
The offence of sexual interference applies to situations in which there is any touching of a minor in a sexual manner. This can include masturbation, oral sex or intercourse. Section 151 of the Criminal Code states that every person who, for a sexual purpose, touches, directly or indirectly, with a part of the body or with an object, any part of the body of a person under the age of sixteen years is guilty of an indictable offence. It does not matter if the minor consented to the activity, except in limited circumstances where the accused is close in age to the minor (see our blog entry on "Age of Consent"). Nor does it matter if the minor instigated the touching so long as the accused had a sexual purpose when taking part. In some cases, it may be possible to argue that the touching was not for a sexual purpose, such as a situation where a parent is giving bath to a child. However, in the vast majority of cases the defence will be based on an argument that the Crown has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that any sexual activity took place. The focus at trial will be to attack the credibility and reliability of the allegations. A discussion of what is involved in mounting such a defence can be found in out blog entry "The I Didn't Do It Defence to a Sexual Assault Charge."
