NEW PUBLICATION: Age Discrimination and the Personhood of Children and Youth

Jonathan Todres, “Age Discrimination and the Personhood of Children and Youth,” Harvard Human Rights Journal Online, Dec. 2022, https://harvardhrj.com/2022/12/age-discrimination-and-the-personhood-of-children-and-youth/

Abstract

A significant percentage of the population of the United States, or any other country, lives without voting rights, is prohibited from holding public office, has restricted access to employment opportunities, and is subjected to greater restrictions on their participation rights such as freedom of expression, association, and assembly. These bright-line rules dividing childhood and adulthood, while advantageous for administrative reasons, fail both to recognize the full personhood of young people and account for developing nature of childhood. They also deprive communities and countries of valuable contributions from their youngest members. This essay questions such bright-line distinctions, which have most commonly been drawn at 18 years old. It focuses in particular on young people’s participation rights. Evolving understandings of both children’s rights and child and adolescent development necessitate a rethinking of the legal regulation of childhood and emerging adulthood.