Should Teenagers Be Held Responsible For Immaturity?

The results show clearly that there are huge fluctuations between different age groups, making it difficult to give a clear answer to the question of teenage culpability. The findings suggest, that teenagers cannot be held responsible for their crimes, due to immaturity, without giving a definite answer. However, due to a too small sample and the lack of an adult comparison group, this study can only be seen as a good first approach to finding a final answer, even though, it shows the importance of this kind of research.

Teenagers shouldn’t be held responsible for the crimes that they commit because of their diminished decision-making capacity and psychosocial immaturity.

There is a clear categorical distinction between adult and juvenile criminals. However, it does not mean that all teenagers are less mature than adults in their decision-making capacity. Some show a mature judgment when they are very young and their habits continue to develop into a durable pattern of criminal behaviors which shape their personal identity. Adult punishment of

As a child enters into the adolescent years, a common change in behaviour occurs in where they actively seek new/ unusual experiences, display an increase in desire to take risks and become more accustomed to developing strong bonds with people to which they are not related (increased social behaviours). Interestingly, this change in behaviour can be seen across all social mammal species, likely due to the evolutionary need for adolescents to gain and develop the skills they require to exist independently, to become - in the case of humans - a self-sufficient member of the adult