Deterrence and the Young Brain

The Age of Culpability argument is founded on the principle that a child’s brain does not develop to maturity until later in the teenage years all the way up to the age of 25. The legal argument is that children under the age of 18 are less “culpable” than those that are over the age of 18. Research on adolescent brain development does not provide an excuse for culpability, but it shows that youth are amenable to treatment in ways that adults are not. The philosophy of deterrence depends on the individual’s ability to make a rational choice. Ideally, a person who breaks the law and who is judges to be irrational, usually because of mental illness or intellectual disability, isn’t given a typical criminal sentence. But what about a class of people unable to make rational choices? How would deterrence work, then? Many medical experts and criminological scholars are now questioning the assumption that juveniles are able to make rational decisions. Such developments cast doubt on the role of deterrence-based treatment of juvenile delinquents. 1. Begin with a cover sheet indicating your name, project title, course, and date submitted. 2. Select a state and provide the information about its ‘Age of Culpability’ rules (what is the age of criminal responsibility/culpability in this state?) 3. Should juveniles be considered less responsible for their actions because of their neurological condition? 4. “Create” a juvenile delinquency program based on deterrence that takes into account the limitations of the juvenile brain. Why would it work? Why not? 5. If you use outside sources or the text, you must document them. The bibliography or documentation of the outside sources does not count in the page total requirement. Papers must be typed, double-spaced, and a minimum of three (3) pages.