In many countries such as
India, the
UK,
Australia,
Canada and
New Zealand a
minor is presently defined as a person under the age of 18. In the
USA, the term "minor" is not entirely synonymous with the term as a minor may be
tried for a
crime (and punished) as a juvenile or an adult. Also, in the
USA, the age considered to be a minor varies from State to State, usually being 18 or 21.
Specifically, the status of "minor" is defined by the
age of majority.
Usage
The terms "
infant", "
child", "
adolescent", "
teen", "
youth", "
juvenile" and "
young person" are also used, although some jurisdictions make a legal distinction between these terms. Minor status carries with it special restrictions, penalties and protections that do not apply to adults. All member states of the
United Nations except the
United States and
Somalia have ratified the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Examples of restrictions imposed on minors include
statutory rape laws, prohibitions against the use of
alcohol and
cigarettes, compulsory school attendance, the need for adult co-signers on legal documents (e.g.
contracts),
driver's license requirements, separate punishment and trial (e.g.
juvenile courts),
child labor laws,
curfew laws and prohibitions against voting. These laws are meant to protect minors from themselves, but severely restrict a minor's freedom.
Restrictions imposed on minors are typically justified by an assumption of diminished mental capacity. Some jurisdictions allow
juvenile emancipation, whereby a minor who can demonstrate competency may take on some rights that are normally reserved for adults.
Not all age-based restrictions are necessarily tied to the same transitional age. The transition from minor to adult, however, is typically defined by the age at which one may independently enter into contracts.
At the end of the
20th century most countries outside of Asia allowed most or all age-based transitions to occur by the age of 18. The propriety of age-based restrictions and selection of a transition age for each remains open to debate due to continued questions about age-specific decision-making capabilities.
Australia
In
Australia, there are several gradations of responsibility before full legal adulthood. Those under age ten are free of all criminal responsibility under the
doli incapax doctrine of
UK legal tradition. Those under the age of fourteen are presumed incapable of responsibility, but this can be disputed in court. The age of full legal responsibility is 18 except in
Queensland and Victoria, where it is 17, and Western Australia where it is 16.
The age of majority is 18 for most purposes including sitting on a jury, voting, standing as a candidate, marriage, hiring R-rated films or seeing them in a theater, buying/viewing
pornography and purchasing
alcohol and
tobacco products
United States
In the
United States as of
1995,
minor is legally defined as a person under eighteen. However, not all minors are considered "juveniles" in terms of criminal responsibility.
In eleven states, including
Georgia,
Illinois,
Louisiana,
Massachusetts,
Michigan,
Missouri,
South Carolina, and
Texas, a "juvenile" is legally defined as a person under seventeen. In three states,
Connecticut,
New York, and
North Carolina, "juvenile" refers to a person under sixteen.
[1] In other states a juvenile is legally defined as a person under eighteen.
Under this distinction, those considered juveniles are usually tried in
juvenile court, and they may be afforded other special protections. For example, a parent or guardian must be present during police questioning, and their names are kept confidential when they are accused of a crime. For many crimes (especially more violent crimes), the age at which a minor may be tried as an adult is variable below the age of 18 or (less often) below 16 [Gaines, Larry K and Roger Leroy Miller. "Criminal Justice in Action" 4th ed., Thompson Wadsworth Publishing, 2007. Pg 495).
In addition, the
age of consent for sexual activity is often lower than the age of majority.
The
US Department of Defense took the position that they would not consider the "
enemy combatants" they held in
extrajudicial detention in the
Guantanamo Bay detainment camps to be minors unless they were less than sixteen years old. In the event they only separated three of the more than a dozen detainees who were under 16 from the adult prison population. And all the several dozen detainees who were between sixteen and eighteen years of age were detained with the adult prison population. Now those under 18 are kept separate in line with the age of majority and world expectations.
United Kingdom
- Further information: Law of England and Wales, Law of Northern Ireland, Law of Scotland
In
England,
Wales and
Northern Ireland a minor is a person under the age of 18; in
Scotland, under the age of 16. The
age of criminal responsibility in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 10; and 8 in Scotland.
Cases of
minors breaking the law are often dealt with by the
Youth Offending Team. If they are
incarcerated, they will be sent to a
youth detention center.
See also
External links
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Motto
"Dieu et mon droit" [2] (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
"God Save the Queen" [3]
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AnthemAdvance Australia Fair [1]Capital Canberra
Largest city Sydney
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Anthem"God Defend New Zealand"
"God Save the Queen"
1 Capital Wellington
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"In God We Trust" (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum" ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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trial is an event in which parties to a dispute present information (in the form of evidence) in a formal setting, usually a court, before a judge, jury, or other designated finder of fact, in order to achieve a resolution to their dispute.
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The word crime comes from the Latin crimen (genitive criminis), from the Latin root cernō and Greek κρινω = "I judge". Originally it meant "charge (in law), guilt, accusation.
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Motto
"In God We Trust" (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum" ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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The age of majority is the threshold of adulthood as it is conceptualized in law. It is the chronological moment when children legally assume majority control over their persons and their actions and decisions, thereby terminating the legal control and legal responsibilities of
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child (plural: children) is primarily a boy or girl who has not reached puberty.[1][2] However, some youth reach puberty earlier or later than expected.
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Adolescence is a transitional stage of human development that occurs between childhood and adulthood. Adolescent humans go through puberty, the process of sexual maturation.
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Adolescence is a transitional stage of human development that occurs between childhood and adulthood. Adolescent humans go through puberty, the process of sexual maturation.
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- :''For other uses, see Youth (disambiguation)
Youth is defined by Webster's New World Dictionary as, "The time of life when one is young; especially: a: the period between childhood and maturity b: the early period of existence, growth, or development.
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- A juvenile (organism) is an individual organism after birth (hatching, germination, etc.), but has not yet reached its adult form, maturity or size.
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New Zealand
In New Zealand law, as defined by section 2 of the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989, a young person
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Official languages Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish
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Establishment
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Motto
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AnthemSoomaaliyeey ToosoowSomalia, Wake Up
Capital(and largest city) Mogadishu
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worldwide view.
Statutory rape (sometimes called "rape of a child", "corruption of a minor", "carnal knowledge of a minor" and so on) is the crime of sex with a minor under the age of consent (AOC), the age at which individuals are considered competent to give consent
..... Click the link for more information. alcohol is any organic compound in which a hydroxyl group (-OH) is bound to a carbon atom of an alkyl or substituted alkyl group. The general formula for a simple acyclic alcohol is CnH2n+1OH.
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Contract Law
Part of the common law series
Contract
Contract formation
Offer and acceptance · Mailbox rule
Mirror image rule · Invitation to treat
Firm offer · Consideration
Defenses against formation
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A driver's license or driver license (U.S.), driving licence (UK, Ireland, Hong Kong, Pakistan, India, Singapore, Malta), driver's licence or driver licence (Canada, Australia†
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Juvenile courts or young offender courts are courts specifically created and given authority to try and pass judgments for crimes committed by persons who have not attained the age of majority.
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Child labor is the employment of children under an age determined by law or custom. This practice is considered exploitative by many countries and international organizations.
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curfew can be one of the following:
- An order by a government for certain persons to return home daily before a certain time. It can be imposed to maintain public order (such as those after the 2003 North America blackout and 2005 civil unrest in France), or suppress
..... Click the link for more information. Emancipation of minors is a legal mechanism by which a person below the age of majority ("adulthood") gains certain rights, generally identical to those of adults. An emancipated minor is free of any authority from his or her parent or other legal guardian.
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