This is not a diary about Trayvon Martin, per se. Though, admittedly, the fact that I have started out with that disclaimer is an admission that the Martin killing prompted my thought process on this subject. It's really not even a political diary. The question I pose is more of a philosophical one, or a cultural one...recognizing, of course, that there are legal definitions, societal norms and a whole host of cultural perceptions that we all bring to the table when discussing this issue. Almost invariably Trayvon Martin has been referred to as "a child." Of course he is. He was some Mother's son. But I'm 56 years old, and I'll bet my mother still thinks of me as her child.
The question I am interested in here is more broad. When does a child become...not a child? I avoid using the term "adult", because it is almost as loaded a term as "child" is.
What separates the state of childhood from that of adulthood? Is it merely a function of the biological clock? The clock striking 18 years? Is it strictly a legal term? How have our perceptions of childhood and adulthood evolved over the generations? Is it a matter of maturity? Responsibility? The ability to discern between right and wrong? If the definition has changed over time, does that not mean the concept itself is relative, as opposed to fixed?
These are all interesting questions. Provocative ones, even. In America's Justice System, they can be questions that decide the difference between juvenile detention and life in prison. So this is hardly a matter of mere intellectual curiosity. But it is also that.
How do we define adulthood? How do we, these days, even demarcate the threshold, the exact line, upon which one crosses into that "state." What constitutes "adulthood", and hence, separates childhood from the former? Is it an age carved in stone? A matter of maturity? Responsibility? Financial independence? The ability to enlist in the Military? Vote? Drink? Think about it for a while.
When I was in the Peace Corps, in Ecuador, I can't tell you how many children I chased away at various times who wanted to shine my shoes. Most of them were, as best I could guess, around 9 or 10 years old. They may have been younger...hard times have a way of making you age more quickly. But I can tell you this...if you sat down in a public park on a nice day to soak up the ambience and enjoy the weather, you would be descended upon by an small army of kids selling gum, cigarettes or wanting to shine your shoes. They were supporting their families, I wanted to think. It's too hard to imagine that they might have been trying, instead, merely to support themselves. At any rate, Childhood, for them, had ended. They were, whatever the case, young, unwilling entrepreneurs.
Here in America, one could go back to the American Revolution. Do you know what percentage of the Continental Army was under the age of 16? It's hard to nail down, but historians who have gleaned the records of Revolutionary War applications for benefits and pensions have estimated that as many as 6 in 10 of the ranks in the Continental Army were under the age of 16...and some were as young as 7 or 8. Many were around the age of 14.
I'm certainly not advocating for military service at that age...I'm just pointing out that it happened here, and not just in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Those kids, presumably, had parents. Presumably, then, their parents either didn't know they were going to enlist, or had no problems with it...or perhaps gave their blessings.
My Mother was 16 years old when she married my Dad, who was then 21. Living in southern Ohio just 30 minutes from the Ohio River, they married in Greenup, Kentucky, where the age of consent was lower. 2 years before meeting my Dad, however, she had left her parents home to work as a domestic servant in Springfield, Ohio...a good hour away. At the age of 14, in the year 1947, she was washing clothes and doing ironing for another family an hour away from her parents, and sending money back home to them. That's Childhood's End.
You hear all the time on the news that girls are reaching puberty at an ever younger age...sometimes as young as 7 years old. So is childhood biological? I think not, but this is a strange and evolving debate. I'm also a genealogist, and my family's roots are deeply entrenched in Appalachia. I can't tell you how many census and marriage records I have gazed upon that showed girls getting married at the age of 13, 14 or 15. Is that the end of Childhood? It seems it was in Kentucky, in 1870 or thereabouts. Their husbands weren't that much older, either. Clearly, our generally accepted norms as to when someone is old enough to pick up a gun or engage in marriage have changed
Not surprisingly, then, parents today have also evolved in their perception of adulthood. In 1993, 80% of parents polled felt that their kids should be financially independent by the age of 22. In 2011 only 67% felt that way. The poll only compares those two dates in time. I would suspect that, had the same question been asked in 1970, close to 90% of parents would have responded that their kids should be financially independent by the age of 22.
I'm not suggesting that financial independence is the measure of adulthood...the threshold one crosses that separates ones life between childhood, behind, and adulthood, forward. It's not that clear cut.
Neither is biology, it seems. Doctors have for many years now been observing earlier and earlier onset of puberty in girls...early development of breasts, pubic hair and menstruation. There are many theories, but no definitive answers as yo what is causing it. What is even more curious is that there seems to be evidence that male puberty may be experience just the opposite force...it may be taking longer to express itself. I have no idea what's going on there, but I don't think it helps us answer the question at hand.
But then again...that's a cultural attitude. Are there cultures that define female adulthood by age of puberty? I'm no sociologist, but I suspect there are. That may not bode well for the precocious 8 year old girl if what's happening here in America becomes a worldwide phenomena.
But what of the boys? And, to pull this diary in and sharpen its focus...what of the criminal justice system? From what I've read, Latinos tend to define adulthood by life events, such as marriage, as opposed to a set age carved in stone. When I was growing up, White, in the early 70's the expectation was that by the age of 18 you should be working, and looking for an exit from the family home. By 20, if you hadn't accomplished that, you were a loser. That's just the way it was.
So I wonder what people mean when they refer to someone as a child. It's not a clearly defined term. It isn't Black and White...in either the literal or the figurative meaning. It changes.
Looking at the crime statistics, the numbers have ebbed and flowed. Somewhere in the mid 80's juvenal crime statistics began to soar, reaching a peak in 1993. Since then they have been on the wane. One can safely attribute much of that to the effect of cocaine, though even there I suspect some will argue. Still, in Scranton, PA, nearly one third of all of the violent crime is attributed to juvenile offenders. And the statistics I've read are that half of those crimes go unreported.
Is there a difference between an 18 year old who shoots someone in the head and a 17 year old who does the same thing? Tough to say, isn't it? How about a 20 year old who kills somebody versus a 15 year old? It gets a little clearer...but still...the picture can be fuzzy.
I am not in favor of sentencing all juveniles as adults...don't even go there, cause that's not what this diary is about. The same Prosecutor that is deciding Zimmerman's fate was the one who decided to try a 12 year old for murder as an adult. I think that is bullshit. Having said that...if he was 16...I'm not so sure. It would all depend on the kid. And that's the point of this diary...when does a kid cross the line into being an adult?
It's not a number...though I can understand, from a legal aspect, where that is convenient. Remember that girl in the 60 Minutes piece about homeless people in Florida? Remember how optimistic, how lucid, how decent she was? Compare her to any number of 24 year olds across America who are still living at home, still raiding the refrigerator, still not responsible for themselves...and tell me which is the child and which is the adult. That's as close to opinionating as I will get in this diary.
My question stands...when does childhood end? Does it end, magically, at the stroke of midnight on the 18th birthday of someone? Is it defined by maturity? Responsibility? Life experiences? Life events?
And however you define it, what, then, are the ramifications with respect to crime? It's a tough issue. And it deserves more than a knee jerk reaction.