Concerns have been raised recently, in legal circles, that many of the sexual offence cases coming before the courts involve school children.

Boys, ranging from 12 to 15 years, have appeared in court on many occasions, charged with carnal abuse of girls in their age group.

"There are times, when the boys, accused of the offence, are younger than the girls they are accused of molesting", a lawyer said.

Commenting further, the lawyer said: "I think it is time that the authorities take a serious look at the problem Jamaica is facing with young children being involved in sexual activities.

"There should be other means of dealing with the problem rather than having the young boys, many of them dressed in school uniform, being arrested and dragged before the courts," the lawyer said.

The lawyer suggested that there should be a special agency, established by the Government, to deal with such cases. The lawyer suggested that, in many of the cases, the boys and girls should be sent for counselling because some of them were engaged in sexual activities just for exploitation.

Special programme

According to a police officer: "Children are very adventurous and that is one of the reasons some school children are in engaged sexual acts.

"I would suggest that there should be a special programme, in the schools, where children from age 10 are given lessons about sex and how best to cope with the problem," the police officer said. "The girls, at times, are just as guilty as the boys because I have known of several cases in which the girls have lured the boys into sexual acts with them," the police officer disclosed.

There are some men, who express the view that in the same way a man or a boy is charged with sexual offences, women and girls should also be charged if there is proof that they were the initiators of sexual acts.

However, under Jamaica's laws, a female cannot be charged with rape or carnal abuse of a male.

Section 44 to 48 of the Offences Against The Person Act sets out the punishment for rape, abduction ad defilement of women, and life imprisonment can be imposed for some of the offences.