SH wrote:
slowguy wrote:
JSA wrote:
Perseus wrote:
BCtriguy1 wrote:
Community service hours, unless 18 y/o has violent history, lack of remorse, etc.
Even if just goofing around, 18 y/o needs a lesson,but I'm not sure that means jail.
Either way that girl is a complete dumbass.
Sounds about right to me. These two were friends and teenage brains are still in development and prone to irrational decisions.
I can understand the inability of the pushing girl to foresee the full consequences of her actions, especially after watching others jump from the bridge w/o issue. But, it is frightening to consider this short-sightedness when we consider all the things to which these teenage brains have access.
We need to come to a consensus on this idea of the not fully developed teenage brain, and what that means regarding consequences for bad actions. We have 18 year old Soldiers and Marines carrying weapons around the desert and in the mountains and trusted to act under pressure in a coordinated fashion with their teammates. teenagers brains may not be fully developed, but they're not toddlers.
I think we have come to a consensus. We know 18 y/o brains can be trusted to act under pressure in a coordinated fashion -- I'd bet on the 18 year olds with guns over rock steady guys like ourselves -- and we know they can be short sighted at times. I don't think we can make this issue simpler than it really is.
Any person, regardless of age, can be short-sighted at times. That's not a characteristic that is specific to teenagers. My concern is the growing idea that people in their late teens and early twenties are somehow not responsible for their actions because their brains are not as fully developed as someone in their thirties or forties.
Late teens is plenty old enough to understand the concept of action and consequence. It's plenty old enough to be able to think ahead and make a basic risk assessment. Teenagers for as long as I can remember fail to do that, because they are young and impulsive; I get that. But we used to hold them accountable anyway, and it seems like now we're moving towards delaying teaching them that their actions have consequences, no matter how well developed your brain might be.
18 is old enough to vote for the leadership of our country. It's old enough to chose to serve in the military, and old enough for us to trust you to do so with loaded weapons or fingers on buttons. It's two years past being old enough to operate a motor vehicle on our roads. It's old enough to chose to have sex or to marry. It's plenty old enough to know that if you push someone off a bridge, they could get hurt. And it's plenty old enough to suffer significant consequences for failing to assess that risk appropriately, or for failing to make a sound decision.
If we continue in a direction where we delay the moment when people have to face adult consequences, we're going to continue to have people who are older and older and not able to behave like adults.
Slowguy
(insert pithy phrase here...)