Why Should 18 Be the Legal Age for Everything
The 21st age of alcohol consumption. In the late 1970s and 1980s, states with a minimum age (18 and 19) for alcohol consumption had seen a greater decline in alcohol-related traffic accidents among adolescents than adults, while stricter laws against drunk driving came into effect for all ages. Then, states began raising their legal drinking age to 21, which was officially required by Congress in 1987. Alcohol-related deaths among adolescents continued to decline more slowly, but began to increase among 21- to 24-year-olds affected by the high age of alcohol consumption. The net number of deaths among young people, particularly in states that were “progressive drinking age,” rose in the late 1980s and 1990s after Congress imposed a national drinking age of 21. The United States has by far the strictest, most widespread, and most enforced age limits of any country for dozens of behaviors β access to alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, medications, spray paint, guns, health care, abortions, driving, sex, to R-rate movies, pretty much anything you can imagine, and even being in public at times. New age limits and increased penalties are constantly being proposed, most recently also for tobacco. Interestingly, the age limits that remain low are those that serve the interests of adults, such as the age at which an adult can legally have sex with a teenager (16 in most states and no more than 18); the age at which one can enlist (or be forced to enlist) in the armed forces; and the age at which parents and the state are no longer required to financially support a young person (both 18 years old). The rights of young people are dispensable; Youth tasks are not. Efforts, led by New York City, are underway to raise the age of smoking to 21, and marijuana legalization initiatives set a similar age for marijuana use. The results would be strange if they weren`t so oddly nasty. A 20-year-old veteran returning from combat service may be denied a cigarette, joint or light beer, and may not be able to rent a car for five years.
A 40-year-old man can legally have sex with a high school student who would be arrested if she later smoked or watched a video of their encounter. Adults can legally force children and teens to passively consume cigarettes and marijuana in their own homes and vehicles (despite serious health effects) while demanding the arrest and punishment of the same teens who smoke actively. “We don`t have a clear answer for them,” Alexander said. The scientific consensus that most brains don`t fully develop until the age of 25 has led to various reforms of the criminal justice system and examinations of how society should punish young adults. “All human beings are created equal…Β This should also apply to laws. We are like any other person, the only difference is that we are younger. Many 16-year-olds do not behave with maturity, they are extremely childish and impetuous. For the few who act reasonably, there is a flood of them who generously participate in the act of drinking minors in order to act with maturity. Maturity is not found in a pint of beer. Go to a town or town that has a college nearby, and you`ll often see packs of teenagers walking around childish and noisy.
16-year-olds simply behave too immature for the simple reason that they are immature, they have just left school. Definitely let them humor you with their chatter and little debates, but at the end of the day, 18 is the legal age for most things and even then, many people still can`t grasp the concept of maturity.<<<So there is the group of 16-year-olds ruining it for the rest of them. You know that companies do a bad job of verifying identifiers as they are, now they have to verify identifiers, testimonials and wise tires? There are reasons for each of these seemingly arbitrary milestones and arguments that some of these rights should depend on a person`s ability to cope with them, or not on a timeline that we should decide on an age of responsibility rather than the voting age or the age of drinking and driving. Was there a moment when you realized that you were ready or not, for a right or a responsibility? Tell us your story. Our number here in Washington: 800-989-8255. The email address is talk@npr.org. And you can join the conversation on our website. It`s npr.org. Just click on TALK OF THE NATION. "NOT ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL"younger does not mean that they are adults, and older does not mean that they are adults.but what can I say, someone adult by age is EXPERIENCE.the 18 years and the 16 years has a difference in experience, so to get more your age, more experience than you had, if you solve your problem, you only have one way to solve it in 16th, but you have a lot of options in 18. to solve your problem.
Moreover, ALL CREATED MEN EQUAL is the other philosophical proverb for the other problem, not for age.<<< all PEOPLE are created equal. Not boys π But seriously, with your thought process, you`re saying we should allow 7-year-olds to smoke cigarettes, drink whiskey, and drive cars to school. "If 18-year-olds are burdened with the responsibility of adulthood, they should be granted some of their privileges," said Charlotte Lawson, a 21-year-old fourth-year student at the University of Virginia who wrote a 2018 op-ed in the campus newspaper calling for lowering the drinking age by 21. AARON: There`s one in Michigan – I live in Michigan, just across the border from Canada. By car it is only about 45 minutes away. And the age of alcohol consumption in Canada is 19, compared to 21 in Michigan. And so there is a great tradition in the area, all 19. Birthday their friends get together, bring them to Canada and everyone starts buying them drinks. And there is a huge culture in the area, especially among students, to go to Canada to have a good time. There are the casinos in Windsor. But what I`ve discovered from my own personal experiences with people is that people who drink at 19 are starting to realize that there`s more to life than that, that there`s more to do than that.
And once that β it becomes a hard thing to get while it`s legal, it quickly loses its luster. And when they`re 21, their drinking days are behind them and they move on and drink a beer with other people. But it has also fueled confusion about what young adults should be allowed to do when scientists know they use less restraint and discipline than older people, said Warren Binford, a law professor at Willamette University and founder of the school`s Child and Family Advocacy Clinic. Once a person reaches the legal minimum age of his state, he can conclude legally enforceable agreements. Minors do not have the legal capacity to enter into a binding contract. However, an agreement entered into when a person was a minor may be ratified, expressly or implicitly, once he or she has reached the legal age of majority, so that the agreement becomes valid and binding. The legal age of majority is separate from the legal age of licensing. The legal driving age is the minimum age a person must reach to legally participate in certain activities such as drinking alcohol, voting or driving.
The legal age of the license varies depending on the activity and jurisdiction and may, but does not necessarily have to correspond, to the legal age of majority. Ultimately, aside from people who mature at different speeds, even deciding what makes a person an adult in the first place is a surprisingly complex question, not to mention trying to determine a difficult number of where the transition takes place (in general) and what activities should be limited only to people who have passed that time in old age. But given the need to have a number for certain laws β recognizing that a bad decision in your youth shouldn`t necessarily ruin your entire life and that children need some additional protections and restrictions β most governments think it`s appropriate to find concrete numbers. .
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