Death Penalty for Child Offenders
is a Courts & Legal System centric issue
why 18?
Why 18? I'm sure everyone can agree that some people are more responsible for their actions at the age of 18 than others. Given this statement, why is the age of 18 arbitrarily picked for the turning point of one's responsibility. I know that we can't write the law to say something like "Child offender: a person who's responsibility level is below that of an average adult" because that's entirely too subjective for a court to decide upon. However it is my openion that something like this should be implimented in a perfect world, although I'll be the first to point out that I'm offering no solutions at this point.
I agree that it's an arbitrary number. Though I still think arbitrary or not 18 provides a standard that people can understand. What I don't get is why we use 18 for adulthood but not for drinking rights. Apparently at 18 you're old enough to make the decision to die for your country, but not old enough to have a beer.
Seems silly.
TDavid says:
"I'm all for making the legal age for everything *18* or *21* rather the current tiered system of 16 driver's license, 18 military/voting and then 21 for drinking. Simplify."
That makes sense, especially the driving thing. Some 16 year olds should not be behind the wheel. They have no sense of mortality. They think they are untouchable and drive around like idiots. They have no clue that they are in the position of a actually killing people when they drive without thinking about the consequences (ie, drinking, talking on cell phones, too many friends in the car, etc.). Yeah a lot of those things are done by older folk too but they may have a better idea.
I think 18 was chosen because it marks the end of cognitive development. I'm not sure if the age was chosen after research into child cog development was conducted, but I know that there have been numerous studies since then that have shown that children don't have the ability to realize the long-term consequences of their actions. I think there is also the idea that someone that young can't control their impulses but it is not necessarily reflective of a character defect. With rehabilitation, they could learn.
18 is somewhat of an international standard as the age that divides childhood and adulthood. International law defines a child as anyone under the age of 18. They cannot be sentenced to death or conscripted into armed combat. The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child also prohibits issuing life sentences to juveniles for the same reasons. The N.Y. Times had an article about this last week. Thursday or Friday I think.
Jimmy Farter says:
"TDavid says:"I'm all for making the legal age for everything *18* or *21* rather the current tiered system of 16 driver's license, 18 military/voting and then 21 for drinking. Simplify."That makes sense, especially the driving thing. Some 16 year olds should not be behind the wheel. They have no sense of mortality. They think they are untouchable and drive around like idiots. They have no clue that they are in the position of a actually killing people when they drive without thinking about the consequences (ie, drinking, talking on cell phones, too many friends in the car, etc.). Yeah a lot of those things are done by older folk too but they may have a better idea. "
I'm really sorry to thread-hijack, but I must speak up here.
I started working in a "real" job at the age of 15, and you don't want me to start driving until years after that? I agree that there are some 16 year olds that should not be behind the wheel, but there are also 80 year olds that should not be behind the wheel, 65 year olds, 50 year olds, even 30 year olds. If you want to take the driver's license away from the 16 year old who's trying to make money to one day go to college, you damned sure better be taking the license away of Susie Soccermom who talks on her cell phone while driving her two screaming children to the mall in her outrageously oversized SUV (who nearly killed one of my good friends). The 16 year old passed a test that confirmed his ability to drive. Susie hasn't had that probably since before the 16 year old was born!
As far as elderly ppl driving, I think an annual eye exam should be required for all drivers over 65. It could be performed by their doctor, not at the DMV. I'm not saying this bc I'm a young adult that is sick of old ppl doing 40 in the fast lane (although that is annoying) but but from personal experience. My boyfriend and I have a motorcycle and on a handful of occasions we have had an elderly person (extreme 70+) pull out in front of us. One time a woman turned left on red and nearly hit us sideways. It is the most terrifying thing to see a car haulin' a** toward you and there is nothing you can do. if u hit the brakes to hard, the bike could flip or they can T-bone you and you can still flip. either way, someone is gonna get hurt or killed. Out of all the riding we have done, I have personally experienced older drivers are less cautious. And in many ways are just as dangerous as a drunk driver or an inexperienced teen.
I also used to believe that if one is old enough to go to war/be drafted, then they are old enough to drink. However, having survived those years and having had teenagers who have survived those years, I no longer agree with this.
I can completely understand and agree with the rationale that it is OK, when at the age of 18, to go kill our enemies in a foreign country but it is not OK to accidently kill innocent people at home. Let's face it, most teenagers are too irresponsible at 18 to be allowed to drink, and are much more likely to do things that are dangerous to themselves and others, like get behind the wheel.
It has been discovered by science that the part of the brain that is responsible for judgement is still developing at age 18 and actually isn't fully mature until the mid 20's. That explains why teenagers appear to be so reckless and often do things that seem ridiculously foolish to mature adults.
By the way, when I was in the military at age 19, I was able to drink legally on base, although the legal age outside the base was 21. Until the mid 1980's, military personnel were allowed to drink regardless of age. At the urging of MADD, Congress banned this practice. I would not have a problem with going back to providing an age exemption for military personnel, but it is not likely to happen.
Damn straight, I think the OP was saying the death penalty should be allowed for people under 18, which is just sick. When you support the murder of somebody as revenge for them murdering somebody, there is something horribly wrong with you, especially when it is done to someone who doesn't even have full legal rights.
