Creating a legal definition for various ages is crucial for lawmakers in America. By establishing the boundaries between childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, it becomes possible to clarify the specifics of such periods and behaviors that the individuals might demonstrate. However, as explained by Scott (2000) in The Legal Construction of Adolescence , there are several complications connected to clearly defining the end of childhood and the overall period of adolescence. While childhood and adulthood ages can be specified by distinguishing between the children’s vulnerability and adults’ responsibility, adolescent populations’ ages are more difficult to determine due to the transitional nature of this growth period.
In the contemporary legal framework, adolescence is not properly defined. Nevertheless, it appears that not including this term in the system is a highly successful tactic that allows the policymakers to avoid additional confusion that is connected to the introduction of a new concept. As such, the categorical approach is most commonly used when managing cases of adolescents, thus relying on the concept of the age of majority (Scott, 2000). In this sense, anyone under the age of majority is legally considered a minor, eliminating the need to account for individual developmental characteristics or differences in maturity (Scott, 2000). Therefore, all people under the age of 18 are currently regarded as minors.
However, this legal framework fails to account for the numerous factors affecting young populations’ maturity. Given the differences in development, cognitive abilities, and the surrounding environment, some adolescents can enter the age of maturity earlier or later than 18 years. As a result, the legal definition of adulthood might not apply to some teenagers, forcing the authorities to treat all individuals below 18 as minors regardless of their actual development (Scott, 2000). Nevertheless, as perfectly explained by Scott, incorporating the multitude of factors impacting maturity is a highly strenuous task that requires significant effort from lawmakers.