<p>Well they might not understand, but thats just too bad. Minors are an interesting gray area here because there is really no set age where someone is able to understand right and wrong and why they do things.</p>
<p>Icarus makes a good point. Someone is considered capable at 16 of adult decisions if they commit a murder, yet incapable of deciding consenual sex at the same age of 16? Sounds like the pro choice women who say that it is THEIR body and THEIR decision to keep the baby, but when it comes to child support, the EVIL MAN SHOULD PAY!</p>
<p>A psychologist once told me that the age of adulthood has actually increased during the recent generations, not decreased. Children in today's U.S. society really don't reach a level of "adult" maturity as it was understood in prior generations until around 26. Too many of us are still living off/with parents, thus true adulthood is not really achieved.</p>
<p>What is the level of adult maturity then? Because surely is is not defined by whether one lives with their parents or not. Financial independance perhaps, but definitely not level of maturity.</p>
<p>311griff, you made a VERY interesting and accurate statement. that is true by all accounts. Today's level of maturity is no longer "21" as it was for most people back then but now around 25 and over.</p>
<p>Obviously, the number of times you've orbited the sun indicates your ability to drive, vote, etc.</p>
<p>:rolleyes:</p>
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<p>IMHO, adult maturity is having/taking 100% responsibility for our own emotional, physical, spiritual, and financial well being.</p>
<p>Yes, there are some 16 year olds who do this, and some 50 year olds who don't, but the bigger part of society reaches this stage at 26 in recent generations--according to a human growth and development psychology professor I had.</p>
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This is why no Democrats are mature, because they want to blame everyone and everything else for problems they might have.</p>
<p>Cleveland? You sound like you're from Texas...</p>
<p>gsp<em>silidon</em>valley:</p>
<p>There's a reason that people convicted and given the death penalty are not executed within one year. That is because they have the right to appeal, etc. This, btw, is very important, because in case you haven't noticed, innocent people are convicted and relesed pretty much every year. And don't give me any of that "well thats the cost of doing business" garbage that people like to dish out. The goal, when the laws were written, was that it would be better to let 9 guilty people go free than to let one innocent person be convicted. This simply isn't happening. If I wasn't morally opposed to capital punishment, I might agree to your "one year" thing ASSUMING that the people convicted were guilty 100% of the time, the racial bias agains african americans and other minorities was eliminated (and don't even TRY to argue that this doesn't exist), and the bias against the poor who can't afford good laywers didn't exist. In the state that it is in right now, it would be RIDICULOUS to hasten the already flawed judicial process.</p>