Am I not right in thinking the correct intention is to stop people taking advantage of other people - at the worst violently?

At the least this can be by subtle pressure and individual vulnerability is always different. Some older, experienced, intelligent people can be persuaded without realising it. It is not always an age thing and the "age of consent" sometimes disguises the problem.

Yet that has become the yardstick for the law - literally one second can be the difference between crime and no crime.

Take rape. Sometimes telling someone you love them when your intention is just physical seduction could be rape. Not just a violent attack.

Morally society wants correctly to protect the vulnerable from being taken advantage and I fear the strict laws and the scandal provoked by historical accusations and persecutions of dead people does not help - in fact, by muddying the water and encouraging adaptation of memory, it hinders the real efforts to help the truly vulnerable and abused.