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Originally Posted by HPLovecraft
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Im aware of the brain aspect of this debate, but like Knasus has pointed out if we decided on a point where the brain had reached what we consider adult maturity where most of the crazy changes teens deal with is over, you would be aiming around 21-25yrs old.
Now of course you are not going to change drinking laws, driving laws, and all kinds of laws based around that science right?
My problem I guess is with the difficulty of not only the science, but the social standards and morality that is huge in this discussion.
You argue that 15 is too young to make a decision for sex with anyone over 18, I would agree in principle because we have to draw lines somewhere legality speaking *as long as judges have leeway here*..
However at 16 she can drive a car, in some countries drink, work fulltime, travel unaccompanied, etc..
These are also adult issues that teens are trusted with, I find people are very much ok with teens being given a drivers license even though this is riddled with danger and responsibility that often is not taken seriously enough by many young drivers.
I think with cases like this our outrage is because of our father instinct as men. I think we can all agree (the men) our angry reaction to this story is imagining this as our daughter, and of course our desire to then hurt this guy badly for what he did.
Yet we reverse this story, make it a 15yr old boy with a 38yr old woman and things dramatically change.
My niece who spent 45 days in Athens modelling was pretty much unsupervised for a good portion of it, travelling with other young european girls going to castings, modelling shoots, being invited to bars, yacht trips, etc..
I thought about how this situation in Canada would have been dramatically different than how its treated in EU. Her mother went with her for the first 5 days to be sure she was in a safe place under good people who would watch out for her, but then left and my niece had an amazing experience and handled it with great maturity and intelligence.
Deciding what teenagers can decide for themselves and handle isn't cut and dry. By asking questions here about this case I'm probably labeled a pedophile or something horrible by some. I understand the anger, but you have to try to look at this stuff with some logic and reason.
That's why judges need the power to enforce the law as the case warrants it, not be forced under mandatory sentencing rules.
Also, just to drive home the point, in the EU this story would not have made the news, in fact in most EU nations unlikely to have drawn the attention of the law. Is that because 16yr olds are given more trust here or is it naivete and way too lax laws?
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The better question, I feel, would be to ask do you consider her an adult? If you define an adult as having a fully mature brain -- both the intellectual and emotional portions -- then, no, a 16 year old, male or female, would not be considered an adult.
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Brain development wise, no, but I feel the same way about 21yr olds.
Do I think a 16yr old can handle sexual decisions on their own, yes and no. Always depends on a few key factors, the country they live in, the society and morals they grow up with.
For me the stark difference between teenagers in North America in comparison to Iceland is shocking, even after being here for 2 1/2 years. This has a long lost of reasons as to why, if anyone really wants me to go further with my observations I would gladly do so but I'm veering off the topic already enough here.
Just so I'm clear on this particular case, I think the punishment handed by the judge was sufficient, being she was almost at age of consent and he has lost a great deal due to this crime he committed. You could probably convince me he could sit in jail for a few years instead of 20 days, a case can definitely be made, but like with all these news stories we didn't sit in the court room and didn't hear what the judge had to work with so I tend to trust him in his decision over our speculation.