"Actually , society has n't said this . 5 judges , in very recent times , have . I for one think that some 17 year olds fully comprehend the full implications of murder , and therefore should be held accountable in the same way as an 18 year old . I guess I just do n't see any reason why a jury could not address the issue on a case by case basis . I do not see the `` 18 and over execution rule `` in the eighth amendment . The point about abortion that I brought up is that it questions the premise offered by thelmoose with respect to juvenile development . In fact , this point was made in the dissent of a Supreme Court opinion dealing with executing juvenile offenders . On the one hand , it is argued that juveniles do posses enough moral maturity to be able to have the same right to abortion as an adult , but on the other hand , it is argued that they do not posses enough moral maturity to be able to be held to the same standard as adults when it comes to the decision to commit cold blooded murder . For your convenience , I underlined the key parts . We have here two contradictory statements . That is what I was pointing out ."
"I think many things are getting confused here . First , I have no idea what Â “ moral maturityÂ ” means . You talk as though that is some definable entity . Next , one may reasonably consider that children are cognitively different from adults . Despite what society or 5 judges have to say , that seems to me a valid reason for applying different sentences to different people . The question was raised with respect to the death penalty as well . We are not talking about criteria for guilt , but once convicted , we are talking about whether to execute a person or not . Unless you feel that punishment should be based solely on retribution , I think there is some wiggle room for different sentencing guidelines for different aged humans . You have conceded that a difference in neurophysiologic fitness makes sense , but we should decide on a case by case basis . If you can figure out a reliable way to do that , go for it . We draw the line based upon age all the time for all sorts of things . The issue of abortion is different for many reasons . We are not deciding on whether to execute a person based upon a crime they committed . That makes it a different issue . Ideally , we would never have a pregnant young woman under the age of 18 make a decision like that without the support and guidance of her loving parents . The ideal situation sometimes does not exist . An underage female may legally make this decision precisely because there are many out there who do not have that guidance at all or informing parents would make things worse . It just so happens that females are fertile prior to 18 , so we do not have the luxury of applying similar age requirements . If you could ban pregnancy prior to 18 , now youÂ ’ d be talking ."
"I do not see the `` 18 and over execution rule `` in the eighth amendment . The point about abortion that I brought up is that it questions"
"Ideally , we would never have a pregnant young woman under the age of 18 make a decision like that without the support and guidance of her loving parents"