Age of "adulthood"

Loren,

I just saw your post. I agree with your points completely. Happily, so do many working in the justice field. Check out the website of the Justice Policy Institute - I've pasted a link to one piece on that site that is specific to the role of trauma in adolescent criminal activity. Once you're on the site, just search for "childhood trauma" and you'll find lots of material. I haven't spent time in that world for awhile, but my memory is that they do address the brain development issue - I don't think they make an argument about the designation of adulthood, but I could be wrong. I doubt that will ever change, however, due to military service issues.

Best, Kathy

http://www.justicepolicy.org/news/1912

One interesting thing to consider is that car insurance companies have much higher rates for people under 25. What do you think they're basing their info on?

Exactly .. we used that argument at a hearing a few weeks ago ... I am going to have to contact some insurance companies and see if I can get their reasoning in writing !!!

Loren....Thank you for beginning this thoughtful discussion.  Without getting into too much science, history or politics, it's only been in the last decade or so (1990's was the decade of the brain) where the FMRI has become a scientific method of understanding brain growth, development and capacity.  We now know that our adult brains are still creating/connecting pathways to the Pre/Mid Frontal Cortex well into our 20's.  Attitudes and Laws about when children should be considered adults may take years or even decades!

Here is a question to consider.  If children become adults at 25, who will fight our wars?  Reasonable, rational, and thoughtful people may reconsider the impact violence has on other people, including family and themselves!  What about mediation, reconciliation, and compromise as a pathway to solving problems, utto..no more war machine......unless we institute the draft...

Found this online...in 1747 Dr. James Lind conducted a "clinical trial" on British Navy sailors after scurvy became a leading cause of death at sea.  He enlisted 6 pairs of men and began different treatments.  The pair that ate oranges and limes were cured within a short time.  Fifty years later, the British Navy recognized the benefit and significance of his evidence and adopted the fruit as part of their preventative medicine onboard,  (Pocock, 1982).  Do our lawmakers, policy writers and politicians understand the science behind neurobiological development and are they willing to accept it?...lets hope it doesn't take fifty years...

http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx

Convention on the Rights of the Child