My Opinion

I believe to a certain extent that the law of consent and law of responsibility are good but hey can be changed some to be better. The law of consent should have a minimum age that if below that you are not able to give consent. I believe that the minimum age should be lowered some to around twelve or thirteen instead of what it is know. I also think that there should be a maximum age difference between the two parties involved until they are past a certain age. The age difference should be from three to five years and the maximum age should be around eighteen. This will stop people who are too young from having sexual activities and those around the same age higher than the minimum can then have healthy relationships. If people want to do something they are going to do it especially older teenagers.   

 

The law of responsibly ages I think should not be changed but the children should be punished more. I don’t think they should be punished to severely just enough to let them know what they did was wrong and that they should stop doing that activity; otherwise they will not learn from their mistakes. They could even make it law for the parents of that child to punish them in some way, of course it has to be legal and within reason. The government could then monitor the child and parents to make sure they are being punished. 

 

I do agree with the drinking age though. Going into this project I thought that it should be lowered but my opinioned changed. While I researched I learned that most people are not mature or fully developed until they are around twenty-one. Children who start drinking younger are likeier to develop alcoholism and have more behavioral problems. So if you lower the drinking age you are just increasing the like hood of accidents and behavioral problems in children. Although people may feel discriminated it's for their on well being: without the Constitution or laws  sure wed be more free to do what we want but there no telling what condition this country would be in. People should be treated differently based on age because until you around twenty-one or so you are not as mature and mind is not fully developed. Like in How We became Posthuman people are defined by their mind and until a certain age your mind isn't developed fully so you should have restrictions.

Age of Criminal Responsibility

Rick Archer, . (Photographer). (2001). responsibility. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.ssqq.com/archive/vinlin17.htm

The defense of infancy is a form of defense known as an excuse so that defendants falling within the definition of an infant, those excluded from being responsible for their actions, if they had not reached an age of criminal responsibility.  Children under the age of seven are considered incapable of committing a crime. Children from the ages of seven to fourteen are considered incapable of committing a crime but the presumption was rebuttable. The presumption could be overcome by proving that the child understood what he was doing and that it was wrong by the prosecution. Children of the ages fourteen and older are considered capable of committing a crime. However, the child could rebut this presumption by saying that because of his immaturity he wasn’t able to understand what he had done or the wrongfulness of what he has done. Because of the exemption of children from adult systems of punishment most states have developed special juvenile justice systems in parallel to the adult criminal justice system.  Hearings are based on the care the child needs. Children are said incapable of committing crimes that require abilities of more maturity such as sexual crimes. Every state has set minimum ages as which children can be charged with criminal offense in the United states it ranges from six years old to twelve years old. Does the Age at which Criminal Responsibly begins affect choices that people may make?

Thew Age of Criminal Responsibily can affect choices that these children make by making them think its okay to commit a crime because they received none or less punishment for doing said crime. They are then more likely to commit crimes when they are older because of this lack of punishment. If you are older and commit a crime you are going to be punished and are less likely to commit another crime because of being punished. So people in this age that cannot be charged are in a way exempt from the law with doesn’t define them as a person because of this. I’m not in this age so I am a person and all law apply to me, although when I was that age this law did not affect me. Once again this has to do with the maturity of the mind but with a little twist, it focuses on the idea of right and wrong. That's one reason why the age of responsibility is lower than say the drinking age or age of consent, people are thought to know right from wrong at a  younger age.

Although is Nussbaum she says humans should be able to love, to make attachments, and live in relation to others humans and show concern but what about hating and hurting others. Does her leaving this idea out mean she thinks maybe they are not of the same decree of being human as others. Should people who do harm and do bad things be considered less of a person?Like in Iron Jawed Angles and Bracton, should people not be classified in to groups regardless of what the classification is .

Loose women A British TV Program .  This Video discussed The Age of Responsibility and rather it should be raised or not. I found it very interesting, it brings up both sides and brings up very good points. Although it is British it is informal and the discussion can still apply to The United States.One point is that children know right and wrong at an early age.

Scotland-Age of Responsibility
Discusses Scotland wanting to raise their Age of Responsibility and people who support it and don't. Gives evidence of why both viewpoints are right. Has points and ideas that can be raised here like anywhere else. Starts with a story of two 10 year old children  killing a toddler.(No embed code was available for this video)

Age of Consent

The Age of consent is the minimum age a when a person is considered to be able of consenting to sexual activities. Many different countries have different opinions and different laws about the law of consent. But to be more appropriate for us I will discuss the United States law of consent. Historically the ages of consent was around the age of twelve and in some cases even lower but people have been working to raise it. Now the age of consent is the age of sixteen or eighteen depending on the state in which they live. Is the age of consent a good thing or a bad think and how does it affect people? 

The age of consent is there like most laws to protect and help people. The is there were older men particularly, can be women , will not have sex with younger people and force sex upon them. Also until the age of sixteen people are no thought to be mentally competent enough to have sex. Although its for the safely of the people, the people who are in it are restricted to whom they date and have sex with based on age.  This law effects people decisions because it limits them to who they can date and may force them to hide relationships because of fear of the law. This can lead to family problems and problems with friends because that person has to hide this fact and make up excuses to cover up for where they were and what they were doing. In my personal life this law has not affected me, because all the people I have dated have been within these law restrictions and around my own age. I also practiced abstinence so I'm affected by this  this law almost  none at all.   People within this law are then defined as only being able to get close to those of their age.  This law is inclusive of everyone because anyone can be involved with it without knowing or may know about it. This law may restrict us but it does so in a good way. The age of consent law has a lot to do with it being believed until the age of consent ,whatever it may be, the person is not competent enough to have sex.

Similar to how Bracton mentions people being defined by their disability this is similar. If a mentally disabled person has right taken or given , it logical that younger less matured minds should be given the same. But like in Iron Jawed Angels, women were thought to be less intelligent than men and we know this isn't true, who's to say at what level of intellect certain people regardless of age can be.

This video discusses if women and men are treated different if they are the older individual in a statutory rape charge. It questions if women are charged with this less because of the fact of them being women.


This video describes the Age of Consent and Statutory Rape into more detail and  helps you understand the law better.

Drinking Age

The Marin Institute, Initials. (Designer). drunk boy by keg. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.marininstitute.org/Youth/alcohol_youth.htm

The Drinking age law in the United States makes it illegal for people under twenty-one to drink and buy alcoholic beverages.  When you are under the age of twenty-one you cannot gamble or drink but can do anything else. Are young adult’s choices affected by these laws and does it affects who they are and are these laws for their well-being?

Alcohol is the leading cause of death in people under the age of twenty-one. Drinking can effect a person’s mental, emotion and physical welfare as well as the welfare of those around them. More people try alcohol a day than any other drug and nearly one-third of high-school students’ drink dangerously.  The younger the age you start drinking the more likely you are to develop alcoholism than people who start drinking at the age of twenty-one. If the law is changed so that the drinking age is lower more people will become alcoholics and more people will die. Although many people already drink underage they are more than likely to hide it and be safe, because they fear that they may get in trouble from the law for drinking illegally, thus affecting the choices they make. But if the drinking age were lowered, they will be less careful and because of this there will be more accidents and more deaths from them not being as afraid of the law and getting in trouble.  If allowed to do something people are more likely to do it and take advantage of and abuse it.

Most people have not fully developed and matured until around the age of twenty-one so they are not as able to make good choices and their bodies can be hurt more easily by harmful substances, this being another reason of why the drinking age is twenty-one.  Although people have some of their rights taken away until they are the age of twenty-one I believe that it’s for the good of everyone. When you are young you are not responsible enough to make as good choices especially under the influence of alcohol. This law is not only there to protect other people but the people the law effects. Like in the Constitution, everyone may not always agree with what is in it but its there for the welfare of American citizens. Although restricting people from doing things may lead to rebellion not all restrictions are bad. Although like in Iron Jawed Angels women are restricted because of their gender not considering their intellect, age restrictions have to do more with a  person's mind and maturity. But this could also deal with Hayles post human,if we define people based on their age because of their mental capacities how can we not give right to cybernetic/robots if they are intelligent.

Passaic News. (Designer). (2007). Drunk driver. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://passaicnews.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/drunk-driver.jpg&imgrefurl=http://passaicnews.wordpress.com/2007/11/21/njsp-targets-drunken-driving-and-seatbelts/&usg=__zXg2NsDDAhcfX_nN89Cg1uVAM3U=&h=428&w=575&sz=214&hl=en&start=2&zoom=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=IHP7QOtXn9WusM:&tbnh=100&tbnw=134&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddrinking%2Bcar%2Baccident%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26tbs%3Disch:1

This is a video shows ways drinking affects teenager and how it harms them.

Effects On Society and Person -This is a link to a report done on The most dangerous drug.It discusses about how alcohol is the most dangerous drug because of its availability and legal status as well as the way it harms people.