Earning points for adulthood
Dr John Hart
The peak age of offending for both males and females is below the school leaving age - 15 for males, 14 for females. Juvenile crime is a seemingly intractable problem. To tackle it, social commentators argue, education will have to be improved to bring out the personal worth of all pupils, social deprivation will have to be ameliorated, and the worst effects of family break-up, which is very much on the increase, will have to be countered in some way by greater social support from outside the family. A less acquisitive, self-orientated moral climate might be beneficial. Above all, though, the desire of individual boys and girls to behave well will have to be strengthened. It is with this in mind that a novel suggestion can be made relating to the transition from childhood to adulthood.
At present, you can legally have sex and marry with parental consent at 16, drive a car at 17, vote, consume alcohol in a pub, enter into hire purchase and other financial agreements at 18, and sit on a jury and get the traditional 'key to the door' at 21. The coming-of-age experience is thus distributed over half a decade. What I recommend is that we concentrate more of the changes at 18 in order to make more of the entry into adulthood. This leaves the way open for us to postpone conferment of adult status on those who do not behave in an adult way - which for our present purpose means in a law-abiding fashion.
'He or she would automatically suffer a three-year postponement of his or her age of majority to 21'
How would the system, which can be called the 'majority rule', work? The crimes and misbehaviour of young people would be punished in the usual ways but in addition a points score would be entered into the record book rather in the way that drivers earn points towards a ban when they offend on the road. For example, possession of cannabis or persistent severe indiscipline in school might be worth one point, vandalism two points, burglary three, mugging four and so on. Any individual who got five or more points, say, would fail to comply with the majority rule. As such he or she would automatically suffer a three-year postponement of his or her age of majority to 21. This could 'bite' as a punishment, and thus operate as a deterrent, if it hit the social life, mobility and wallet of a young man or woman. This it would do in the case of social life because the right to drink alcohol in pubs, presently triggered at 18, would be deferred to 21. Mobility is more difficult because the current legal age for driving a car or a motor-cycle over 49cc is 17. The simple expedient is to raise this to 18 - which would also reduce accidents. As to the wallet, the young person will not be able to hold credit cards or enter into hire purchase agreements of any kind. If we wanted to strengthen the financial incentive to good behaviour, the state could deposit a sum of money, eg L100, with an investing institution on behalf of each child at birth for collection at 18 only by those who do not misbehave. Regular financial statements to the individual would be a useful reminder of the growing size of the nest-egg and of what is at stake. Forfeit money could go to a crime victim's compensation 'pot.'
It is not recommended that the miscreant 18 year olds be prevented from marrying without parental consent as marriage tends to be a reforming institution.
An element of compulsory training for the 16-18 age group would help to establish 18 firmly as the age of majority. Another useful move in this direction would be to make the sale of cigarettes to under-18s illegal. Penalties for those selling alcohol to under-age drinkers could also be strengthened.
The majority rule system might seem negative. To balance this, a positive component could be incorporated which would enable those who have misbehaved to 'reduce their deficit.' The kind of activity that is relevant here would be community service or sporting endeavour. The key idea would be involvement in some socially useful project.
Training to comply with the majority rule could start as early as 11 or 12 and be continued to the end of a child's school career. Though conducted at school, the early sessions should involve parents so as to strengthen family commitment to keeping children on the straight and narrow. Health propaganda aimed at the young on alcohol, smoking and drugs has backfired in the past by perversely glamorising the undesirable. This might be avoided in the majority rule context by focusing on the rights and duties of citizenship and on the advantages of adulthood achieved early. At the age of 18 a youngster would receive a document confirming his or her adult status and describing the implications of this coming of age. This might go a small way to bringing it home to young people that they are now adults. At present, it is perfectly possible for some 'youths' on the dole to go on feeling not quite adult practically into their thirties.
This is an extract from the book 'Wealth and Well-Being: A National Strategy for the Nineties' by Dr John Hart, (published by Oxon/Harper and Row, 1988, at L8-95). This book won a Social Inventions Award. Dr John Hart's address is 16 Burleigh Court, Cavendish Place, Brighton, BN1 2HR (tel 0273 720879).
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