Runaway laws for youth should be abolished

Thank you for a speedy reply. I will begin by defending my argument and addressing your riposte. Starting with: 1. Little Jimmy... :) Now, by stating that "[The] rules don't protect youth best interests." is outlandish and the same as saying a bicycle helmet isn't in the best interest of your head. I am curious how living a life of drugs, poverty and prostitution is considered an adolescences "best interests." You go on to exclaim that the term of adolescence was coined with compulsory schooling laws. I am curious Luvx, do you think compulsory school rules are a sham as well? "Before the industrial revolution, people were getting married at/around 13 and had a lower divorce rate." Well I hate to break this news to you Luvx, but the truth is that the world changes with time. What was considered proper ages ago, like being married at 13, is subject to that era's culture, technology, life expectancy and many other factors. I can't say whether its right nor wrong to be married at 13, but I can say in this era. the era in which the argument is in question, frowns upon 'adolescent' marriage. and has constructed laws against it. To add to that, like current states with runaway laws, this isn't meant to be considered an 'oppressive' law. It is intended to safeguard these kids from potential problems they may have, possibly financial insecurity or a degraded quality of life. 2.Statistics... Again, not really "Oppressive laws." Is telling someone they can't commit murder oppressive? I repeat, Laws are in place to protect everyone's best interests. NEXT! You declare that these laws prevent "youth[s] from getting a decent job and earning a good income (because of child labor laws, there are very limited jobs available to youth where they can earn a decent income)" I apologize for my rudeness but no. Just no. Even with parental consent kids who are under the legal adult working age and don't run away from home aren't finding 6 figure salaries. They are working in restaurants, super markets, delivering papers. I hope that is not what you consider a "good job" as this job does not provide for the future in all likelihood will only support a paycheque to paycheque lifestyle. Furthermore, the reasons theses kids have a difficulty with both finding a job as well as a job with a good pay cheque is because simply they are uneducated. Seriously, no one is going to want to hire a high school drop out who didn't complete basic math. In fact the importance of education is only being held in higher and higher regard. Many schools won't even allow you to apply for a trade without a high school diploma. "This is why runaways turn to crime." If they followed the law in the first place and didn't runaway they would have never been forced to plunge towards crime. And if they were educated they would be smarter than taking that route anyways. 3. Kids need to learn structure... Well gosh darnit. You say that some people don't follow the rules and some people never learn? Quite right you are my brother. I mean why even have any laws if SOME people aren't going to follow them right? Lets just thow out the whole system and take drugs and live like hippies and sell coke. The reason society has prospered and made the leaps and bounds that it has is simply structure. From a young age we are cultivated and grown like a seed, being watered with nutrients and left in the sunlight of knowledge. Structure, designed through knowledge, is the key to our development. Without structure we would still be savage hunter gathers living in the mud and dying in our early thirties or less. Criminals are proven to have a much lower average intelligence then non-criminals. Runaway laws are a resource employed by society to take all measure to prevent kids from making a life long mistake. The concludes my defense. I am sorry as I realize some of my criticism may be overly sharp. And now for my rebuttal. "Some people might say "teens are not ready to be responsible for themselves and their actions" or "they don't have life experience to make good decisions" that is not true. How are they supposed to gain experience under restrictive laws?" I believe your aforementioned quotation is in fact true. As the social sciences cannot explain many phenomenon, including the rate at which a person learns and develops. The ultimate being that some kids develop far quicker then others and as a safeguard we release kids when they are legally an adult, as many adolescents may not quite fully understand the implications of there actions. And as far as experience, have you ever heard "Learn from others mistakes". If you think a child who sees the number of missing children in the United States alone and decides he should runaway to "experience" this himself is prudent then your mad. And honestly who "spend[s] 12 years in a classroom and [has] not learn[ed] anything." Not to mention I am sure the margin of kids who actually claim to have learned nothing is pretty thin. You continue to introduce the "teen brain." Which is an argument manly supplemented to address development and unintelligent decisions after the age of 18, whereas the focal point of our contention lies within a legal implication geared towards kids under 18. Therefore I will not address this argument. And I am not sure how getting a new job allowing your brain to rewire itself has anything to do with anything. Finally, your humble XosL3git will finish up here. Society, in a modern standpoint in developed countries, is geared towards progression and attaining a higher quality of life. In earnest we take many measures and supplement many laws to attaining the aforementioned societal goal. Including laws that make running away illegal. In these regards, its should remain a law. XOSL3GIT SIGNING OFFFFFFFFFFF----bzzzt! "I believe that the children are the future." - Whitney Huston