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by seanmcdirmid
6 days ago
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Kids are incredibly malleable, although they are mostly a function of their environment. Childhood really the only time you have to form them. Teenager are just bigger kids. But yes, young people are more likely to re-offend, especially if society has given up on them. Older people tend to get beaten down by lots of wisdom, either learnt the easy way or the hard way. |
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Incorrect as to the word “mostly.” See: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/from-freud-to-fluoxe... (“Roughly half or more of the variance in most personality traits is attributable to genetic factors”). And even though environmental factors play a large role, by the time you're confronted with an adolescent who has committed a serious crime, a lot of that has already been baked in through the pre-adolescent environment.
> Teenager are just bigger kids.
That’s completely contrary to science. Teenagers are teenagers. Their brains are distinct both from children and from adults. In fact, the reason violence peaks at around 18-19 is because the development of the emotional centers outruns the development of the prefrontal cortex that provides impulse control.
And of course in terms of physical strength and capacity to do violence, men reach a substantial fraction of their full adult strength by age 15.