Free and Voluntary Agreement to Sexual Activity in the Contemporary Age: When Should Fraud Invalidate Consent?
A special issue of Laws (ISSN 2075-471X).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 September 2025) | Viewed by 376
Special Issue Editors
Interests: prosecution role and discretion; position and experiences of witnesses and victims in the criminal justice system; modern law reform; indigenous jury participation; technology and the criminal law; prerogative of mercy and exercise of death penalty in 19th century; gender and crime in 19th century
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The concept of consent as a free and voluntary agreement to sexual activity is integral to both modern sexual assault law and contemporary values of autonomy and informed choice. The integral element of the crime of rape is the victim’s lack of consent. The law has traditionally taken a narrow approach to where fraud will invalidate consent, typically limiting it to fraud as to the nature of the act or fraud as to the identity of the alleged perpetrator.
In most Western jurisdictions, deceit regarding age, marital status, employment, social status, religion and ethnicity are deemed fraud to ‘attributes’ and is insufficient to negate consent. Such conduct, if effective in procuring consent to sexual activity, may be immoral, but such consent is not rendered invalid. That said, the law has proved contentious, and the circumstances in which deceit or fraud may or should invalidate consent has become increasingly outdated and problematic with rapid changes in technology and social beliefs, including the advent of ‘catfishing’. The acceptance of diverse gender and sexual identities has further complicated the legal circumstances in which consent may or should be invalidated, as have considerations regarding requirements to disclose sexually transmitted infections and deceptions concerning contraception.
The concept of what constitutes sexual activity may also need to be reconsidered in light of advances in technology, including video calls, AI and VR platforms.
This Special Issue calls for contributions to consider these involved questions from both a legal and/or criminological perspective. Is there a single underlying principle that should apply? In what circumstances should deceit render consent to sexual activity invalid? What should amount to free and voluntary agreement in this context?
Dr. David Plater
Dr. Kris Wilson
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- criminal law
- fraud
- sexual offences
- contemporary issues
- technology
- gender
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