LightningDammitt said:
aTm2004 said:
LightningDammitt said:
Quote:
You're using him being charged as an adult as a measuring stick for maturity, but we both know that's a weak reach.
The courts interpretation in the case is the courts "measuring stick". Their "reach" is the one that counts in the case, and is, by far, not "weak".
What is your "measuring stick"? How is it stronger than the court's?
You're the one reaching thinking the court deciding to charge him as an adult speaks to his maturity. Do you think a 12 year old is as an adult?
It is not my reach to charge him as an adult.
I do agree with the court that they should try him as an adult.
I do not agree with the ridiculous ascertion that 12 year olds should be tried as adults.
You failed again to answer a question:
What is your measuring stick? It does not seem to align with the courts.
You may even be able to convince me that the courts are wrong with your answer or explanation.
Change my mind...
You're really talking two different standards here. TLDR though, All 18 year olds are responsible enough to be held accountable as adults, but not all of those responsible enough to be held accountable as adults are 18 or older.
The law makes all 18 year olds adults because there is an expectation, with minor exceptions for diagnosed reduced mental capacity, that all 18 year olds and older should have achieved a responsibility level adequate to be an adult in all things. Think of the first 18 years as a probationary period for being a person. Once your probationary period is up, you don't have any excuse for not being an adult.
That said, 18 years old is a bit of an arbitrary line, and
the fact that you should be mature enough to be held responsible as an adult after 18 does not mean that you cannot be mature enough to be held responsible as an adult before 18. They are NOT the logical inverses of each other. There are some crimes that most adolescents can be expected to understand the gravity of and be held responsible for, even if they have not hit 18. Again, that the point when no one can claim youthful ignorance, but it doesn't mean that all who are youthful are ignorant and child by treated as such. It doesn't take 18 years to develop the competency or responsibility to understand that things like murder, rape, or assault are inherently bad and have grave consequences. These are things that you can expect most adolescents to understand on an adult level, and if they can understand that on an adult level, they should be held responsible for it as an adult. That's what is determined on an individual basis.
