Should minors have greater rights?

[white_wolf]

This is kind of a spin off from the 14 year old abortion thread, but I didn't want to derail that thread and this topic is something I've been thinking about for a while. Do you all think that minors should have more rights to make their own decisions than they currently have in the U.S.? Maybe it's because I'm not a parent, but it seems to me that the U.S. has a lot of overly strict laws designed to protect young people that seem to cause a lot of problems.

For instance the drinking age being 21 is just stupid in my opinion. It does nothing to stop underage drinking or underage DUI and likely makes them worse, because drinking is seen as cool since it's illegal. To be completely honest, I find the whole concept of being an adult at 18, but unable to drink to be completely illogical. If you can vote and be tried as an adult you're hold enough to drink.

Another example being the age of consent being 18, I know in some countries it is lower, I heard that Canada raised it to 16 a couple of years ago, and I think that might be a better age than 18, since I've heard stories of 18 year olds getting arrested for having sex with their 16 girlfriend/boyfriend. I think that age actually might vary from state to state, though, so it may not be a federal thing.

I'm sure there are other examples, and maybe because I'm not a parent I simply don't understand enough about the situations listed to have a say in these sort of debates, but it is something I've been wondering about. I'm not saying lower the age of adulthood to 16 or anything, but perhaps we should grant older teenagers more rights at around 16 and perhaps that would solve some of our problems such as underage drinking and driving. It's just a thought, let me know what you all think and I hope I haven't offended anyone.

[elleng]

1. As to human maturity:

Brain changes significantly after age 18, says Dartmouth research.

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news/releases/2006/02/06.html

[Neoma]

2. I'd say 15 actually.

That was around the time I gave my anti-ageist rant about how many rights I should have to my mom. To be fair though, I think my anarchy stage and uproar about how Bush is complete evil and how we should have a revolution to reform our government and take him out of office was around then too. I'd have been out on the streets if we weren't in the sticks.

Also, I think the age 21 thing is more about brain development. If anything they should raise it to 25... But I'm not truly advocating that.

[Quantess]

3. I agree with the alcohol at age 18

It's possibly unconstitutional. Everything else for adults is allowed by age 18, so why not alcohol?

Most 18 - 20 year olds don't feel guilty for breaking the law when they somehow get alcohol, because most people of that age disagree with the law. It fosters disrespect for the law, in general. What's the big deal, breaking a stupid law like that? How about we just break some more laws while we're at it? It's like telling teenagers they can't have sex until they get married. Yeah, right.

[white_wolf]

4. You raise an interesting question about the constitutionality of the law.

I'll have to ask someone more knowledgeable about that, because it is an interesting question.

[notadmblnd]

5. when I was growing up, the legal drinking age where I lived was 18.

I remember because it was my last year in HS, and let me just say, I still don't remember how I had time to go to school, work and spend 6 nights a week in a bar.

I did graduate and I kept that job for 28 years. I can't remember the last time I was in a bar though

[white_wolf]

6. Teenagers still drink though.

It isn't exactly hard to get alcohol as a minor, since most people know people over 21 who will buy it for them. Besides, I've heard countries with lower drinking ages tended to have less problems with alcohol than the U.S., since teenagers are taught to be more responsible with it.

[notadmblnd]

8. Oh sure. I remember standing outside the doors of the party store at 16 getting someone to buy

beer for us. It was no big deal to us. We were just going to hang out at a friends, but if our parents had known......

I have an 18 yr old at home and if he wants a drink, I allow it. What I don't allow, is for his friends to come here and drink. That's a liability I'm not willing to take on. But honestly, he doesn't really seem to have an interest in alcohol.

[cherokeeprogressive]

13. We called it "pimpin' beer" and did it nearly every night.

A case of beer, a hillbilly ice chest (trash bag full of ice) and $3.50 a carload at the local drive-in.

Them was the days.

[CTyankee]

7. It is just part of our overall American "alcohol" problem.

If you go to Europe, particularly Western Europe, you find a mature, reasonable attitude about drinking. What kids learn, growing up, is modeled by adults as moderate wine drinking with meals, not extremes of drunkenness or total abstinence.

Americans are nuts when it comes to drinking. We have an "all or nothing" attitude here and it only makes things worse...

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. We used the European models with our daughters

worked well

[loyalsister]

11. It's about social groups

18 year olds are still in HS where they interact with students who are much younger. The fact that many young people can get booze does not make it a good idea to increase that opportunity. There is a serious problem with adolescents soaking their brains and creating some limitations to their later development. No sense in adding to the numbers IMO. I have a bias as a person who has seen these effects personally.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122765890

I blame it on permissive overindulgent tendencies that are so prevalent in American culture. If we behaved more sensibly I think that we could operate in a way that would allow for mature use at younger ages. Sadly we don't and I don't see that changing.

As for consent there are similar problems with having older more emotionally and physically developed students socially engaged with those who are younger and less mature.
Two things are not going to change are our school social arrangement and particularly the tendency toward overindulgence. I see gray area but it seems that it can only be addressed with definitive age limits.

I guess if we ask that question we should also consider what qualifies as a right. Does a person have a "right" to pollute their body with cigarettes at 13? Even if we say yes, is it too out of line to think that maybe it is wise to protect kids from pursuing bad decisions that actually may affect their development?

It's an interesting question.

[canetoad]

12. One part of me says yes

All 18yr olds have a right to purchase alcohol. Another part really applauds the bigger seperation of gaining a drivers licence and legally drinking.

This debate grew red hot in Oz a short while back after a spate of horrendous accidents involving teenagers and drunk driving. There were three or four crashes, each with multiple fatalities (5 - 7 dead) within the space of a few weeks. The issue raised was that 18 is both the age to legally drink and the age to drive. I appreciate that kids in the USA get their licences earlier.

[SecurityManager]

10. Funny my kids now F (23) and M (22)

Never mentioned having rights or for that matter free will privacy, I am soooo glad the internet was still a fad when they were teenagers