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Age Of Responsibility Analysis

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There is a hefty altercation over what the true age of responsibility is in young adults and whether the diverse ages they are given to acquire rights are excessively complicated. Growing up, teens are given four separate ages as to when they reach ages of “responsibility”, 16, 18, 21 and 25. These separate ages raise questions as to why the law has set certain age requirements to obtain different rights.
The article “What is the Age of Responsibility?” by Alan Greenblatt investigates the different ages states give young adults and how they can cause confusing as to when the age of responsibility comes into play. The article gives an account of one man, Justin McNaull. “By the time he was 23, McNaull had graduated from college, married and …show more content…

Eighteen is the age in which many teens become legal adults which gives them the right to get a tattoo, vote, join the military and the independence of making your own decisions. Twenty-one is the age which allows young adults to legally drink alcohol and smoke marijuana medicinally and recreationally, in 28 states. However “the presidents of 135 universities are campaigning to consider lowering the drinking age from 21”(Greenblatt) which, can cause problems between the federal laws and would seem unfair to students attending different colleges or high school graduates not attending college. The article notes “that binge drinking on campus is rampant despite stricture.”(Greenblatt) The CDC Fact Sheet of Underage Drinking also states how “people aged 12 to 20 years drink 11% of all alcohol consumed in the United States” and “90% of the alcohol is consumed in the form of binge drinks.”(CDC) So would lowering the drinking age really do much of a difference to ending binge drinking in young adults or would it increase the problem? Finally, at twenty-five, adults are allowed to rent cars from a rental establishment. Recently, however, some car rental companies rent to underaged drivers. For example, Hertz car rental now rents to drivers at the age of 20. We are given different ages to reach rights because “states are finding ways to recognize this by introducing youngsters to increasing levels of responsibility, rather than foisting it upon them all at once.”(Greenblatt) By mentioning this he is elaborating how laws give multiple ages in order to introduce responsibility in small portions rather than forcing it ,too quickly, onto young

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