Preview

Mature Minor Rule Essay

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
437 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Mature Minor Rule Essay
Personally the following information as uncovered in several sites, and for me it has some direct bearing on the issue. The source of information that I decided to present for review is from: King County Government of the state of Washington, and offers insight into: The Mature Minor Rule.
• “The Mature Minor Rule was created as a result of a 1967 court case, Smith v. Seibly, 72 2n.2d 16 and is part of Public Health - Seattle & King County's Policy and Procedure which allows health care providers to treat youth as adults based upon an assessment and documentation of the young person's maturity. The Mature Minor Rule enables the provider to ask questions of the young person in order to determine whether or not the minor has the maturity to provide
…show more content…
Thru the course of my personal life I have observed both at a personal level, and thru observation of the news media that there are some adolescent’s that are far more mature than their age. However, there are always two sides to a story, contrasting circumstances or situations, and reality is that it is far more complex when analyzing maturity or immaturity of an adolescent. There has been research based on studying adolescent maturity and the brain, which has impacted both public debate and policies in general.
Of course not every single adolescent is mature enough to make a reasonable decision that may affect their life, and we can argue that not every adult is mature enough or has the capacity to make their own decision. In both cases immaturity due to a variety of influences or variables may be a part of the equation in defining the ability to provide

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    2. The parent of any child under the age of 18 years who violates this ordinance shall be also held in violation.…

    • 1402 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Juvenile Courts were designed to allow children under the age of 18 a chance to be tried in a more reasonable court system as it is for adults. Their age is taking into consideration…

    • 1973 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In 1992 when the Adolescent Equity Act was passed by Parliament, the State Government said: "It is the goal of this Administration, as it was of the past Government, to manage 17-year old kids inside the adolescent framework, as opposed to the grown-up framework. We don't want such youngsters being presented to the impacts of grown-ups in Adult prisons, in this way expanding their chances of staying in the framework and being repeat offenders. This change will happen at a proper time later on." The reasons referred by the Administration conveying its desire to stop overseeing 17 year olds in the adult system up until now appear to be exact today. Eighteen is the season of full grown-up duty, in Queensland and all through Australia, yet 17…

    • 159 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    "... almost every state has made it easier to try juveniles as adults. Congress provided additional encouragement to this trend in 1998 by making some federal grants contingent on states having policies allowing for the prosecution of those over the age of 14 as adults." (p. 4)…

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many people believe that teenagers are not as mature as adults, and that is because they do not have a fully-developed…

    • 928 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When we talk about a juvenile being considered an adult for the purpose of administering justice, there are a multitude of factors that need and should be taken into consideration. First, is the age of the juvenile. Secondly, it depends on the type of crime or crimes that the juvenile has committed. Next, is the extent to which the juvenile will benefit from services through the juvenile court system versus the adult court system. Then, the system will examine the degree of criminal sophistication exhibited by the minor. Also, in some instances, a fitness hearing must be held to determine if the minor is “a fit and proper subject to be dealt with under the juvenile court system”.…

    • 796 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I am not an adult, I am a child. To be an adult you have to be fiscally responsible, and mature. I am not fiscally responsible because even though I have a small job where I make spending money, I still rely on my parents for all of my needs. I do not fully understand what it means to really save money because the money I make I just spend on wants, not needs. I have yet to do any of these things. Also as a 17 about to be 18 year old boy I am still not fully mature, I still act like a child quite often. An example of this immaturity is I still expect Christmas and birthday presents, I still expect my parents to pay for me when I am with them, and finally I still sometimes act like a little kid when I do not get what I want.…

    • 604 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Lowering the Drinking Age

    • 1470 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The twenty-one restriction look as if it’s out of date in today’s society. Many guardians of today’s teenagers were legally permitted to drink at the age of eighteen. Teenagers today face more responsibility and are treated much differently from the way their parents were treated. If twenty-one is considered so mature, then why is eighteen considered an adult? At the age of eighteen, an individual can vote, serve on a jury, stay out without a curfew, leave home, drive,…

    • 1470 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    History shows in the roaring 1930’s all U.S. states had a set legal age for drinking or purchasing alcoholic beverages which was 21. In a publication by J. Carroll found in the Gallup, Inc. illustrates in the 1970’s numerous U.S. states legislation decided to lower the drinking age from 21 to “18, 19, or 20” (Carroll, 2007). This lowered drinking age only lasted approximately 14 years; then in 1984 Congress elected to raise the legal drinking age back to 21. This change would affect states who did not follow through their funding, “states would be subjected to a decrease in federal funding for highways if they state did not enforce the minimum age of 21 for purchasing/possessing alcohol” (Carroll, 2007). This was due to the increased fatality and accident percentages among teens during this time. When it comes to talks of drinking and age,…

    • 981 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Minors Rights And Consent

    • 1501 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Our culture has a large impact in this determination of minor’s transition into adulthood and our assessment of their increasing cognitive ability. At what age do we develop the ability to fully reason, assess the risk, and make decisions to avoid mishap? At the ripe old age of thirty-eight, I have fully mastered this (yeah right), but I have to wonder what the average is for a minor. Smith (1996) stated, “The frontal lobe of the brain, which deals with the control of sexual drives as well as abstract reasoning and planning, is not completely myelinated until 14 or 15 years of age (Anastasiow, 1982). Major changes in cognitive ability occur between early and late adolescence, most notably the capacity to reason abstractly, predict future consequences, and see things from different perspectives. As these changes occur, the conception of the self as invulnerable diminishes and the impact of knowledge of risk increases.” It is readily accepted, however inconsistent the laws are, that minors do not possess the same reasoning skills and decision making skills to have their world of choices be at the same level as an adult. Parents have the right to require medical treatment of a minor, they also have the right to disallow medical treatment such as cosmetic surgery. If a court of law supports the parent/guardian rights to decide what medical treatment their child can/cannot…

    • 1501 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Drinking Age

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Originally, the United States drinking age was raised to 21 in order to primarily reduce highway fatalities, along with teen pregnancy, alcohol poisoning in youth, as well as a future that was thought to be taking a turn for alcoholism. But everyone knows that this has not stopped minors from any of these things, let alone drinking in itself. Although it is illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to purchase alcohol, it can still be done. “This law has been an abysmal failure. It hasn’t reduced or eliminated drinking. It has simply driven it underground, behind closed doors, into the most risky and least manageable of settings” (McCardell).…

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Every child in the world wants to grow up faster then time permits them. They want to have their opinions taken as an adult 's would be. They want to have the privileges adults do. They want the freedom adults have. Most of all, children want to make their own decisions even though ultimately, it is the same decision the adults would of made for them. However, adults believe children below a certain age are immature and uneducated and that they are unable to make their own decisions. At what age do children become mature and knowledgeable? At what age do children not become children anymore? At what age do they get to make their own decisions? Those questions are taken closely into consideration when debating the minimum legal drinking age. Many countries have different views on what the age should be. Around the world, the most used age is eighteen. The United State 's minimum drinking age should remain twenty-one years old. We are the United States of America. We are a totally different region than the rest of the world. We have different views, standards and morals than the vast majority of the world. We plan for the future, which means taking care of the future generations. We ensure the safety of our children by providing rules and regulations accordingly including the federal, minimum drinking age of twenty-one.…

    • 1229 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, originally passed in 1974, prevents youth under age 18 from being held in adult facilities unless the state defines “adult” as younger than 18, or if the youth was convicted of a felony or is awaiting trial for a felony offense. In certain circumstances for which the Act makes exceptions, such as for short periods in rural areas or while awaiting a court appearance, juvenile inmates are to be kept completely separate from adults.…

    • 896 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Birth Control

    • 1814 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Many teenagers today are very sexually active and take the risk that comes with sexual intercourse. Education is our number once source in getting sexual information out to our teens: “We have got to start educating our teenagers by introducing the ABC's for sexual education. "A-abstinence; B-be faithful; C-latex condoms." (Rosenthal 113). A type of contraceptive, also called birth control, is to do just that: control birth. Teen and teen births are greatly rising over the years due to lack of education, contraceptives, and finances. Teenagers now days do not wait till a certain age to become sexually active, more and more teens are starting at a younger age. Whether they are having sex or engaging in another form of sexual activity. “The principle behind age-of-consent law is that teens below a certain age are not mature enough to make an intelligent decision about engaging in sexual activity. Twenty-six states set the age of consent for medical making decisions at twelve years of age, yet no state sets the age sexual consent at less than sixteen. Some states provide no provisions for sexual relations between teens of the same age, provided that they are older than twelve, but there is always a penalty if one of the partners is a certain number of years older. Teens are no better prepared to make decisions about their medical health; so then the school or other public authority should inform the parents. Supporters of the lower age of medical consent counter by saying that the sexual activity between minors may or may not be legal and that medical confidentiality is more important than law enforcement.” (Zorea 113).…

    • 1814 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Teenage Behaveor

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Some Rules set for teens are in place to protect the teen and other around them. One of the rules is a curfew set for teen to home at a certain time. It’s in place to keep kids off the street during the night and at home where they would be safe. Another is the age limit for drinking and smoking. Most states age is set at 18 for smoking and 21 for drinking. By placing the limit on drinking and smoking it is in hope to keep the younger children from using these in the can choose for themselves. One more rule that is in place is on games and movies. This helps parents know what kind of game or movie their child is playing or watching. The higher the rating the more bad the game is for younger children. Finally the rule is the age limit on driving. Some teenagers don’t show a great level of maturity. So in till they can show that they can handle that level they should be restricted in what freedoms they can have. They can be a danger for all other drivers on the road. Once they can show that they have the level of maturity to be able to drive responsibly should they be given a driver’s license. That is why…

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays