[scott_w]

Because we’re talking in the context of young people who executed a multi-stage criminal enterprise causing millions of pounds of damage, harming multiple companies and their customers, AND TRIED TO EXTORT THE CEO FOR PROFIT.

This is not “behavioural immaturity” associated with an underdeveloped prefrontal cortex!

[martinald]

Actually, this is exactly what underdeveloped prefrontal cortex looks like at scale. You're describing sophisticated technical execution combined with catastrophically poor judgment.

They bragged about it to the BBC as well. This is not a clever strategy to not get caught. Neither is not immediately fleeing to another jurisdiction than the very one you committed the crimes in.

This is what happens when you have extremely smart kids with high risk-taking tolerance. If they weren't as intellectually gifted, they might be driving a souped up 15 year old Golf like a maniac round country roads - but because they have these technical capabilities, their poor judgment scales up to cause millions in damage instead of just getting themselves arrested with a few grams.

[scott_w]

That’s a massively reductionist view of this. Maybe prefrontal development played a role but so many things are part of this you can’t just say the two statements being put: one by OP and one by you.

“Teenagers don’t understand repercussions”

“Teenagers have underdeveloped prefrontal cortex”

These might have been FACTORS in this specific case but the former is not generally true. The latter is true but it’s not the full story. It cannot, on its own, explain why these kids committed a major criminal enterprise.

That is what I take issue with.