The Adolescent Mind
Submission Instructions: Click the reply button to enter your response. Click the Post Reply button to post to discussion.
Here you will answer various questions related to this module and larger societal and cultural trends. I encourage you to include your personal experiences and observations as part of these discussions. You will also read and comment upon the answers of your peers. Your participation in these discussion boards will be evaluated using the rubric provided in the discussion forum within Canvas.
Considering the various resources you just viewed, discuss the following:
Should adolescents be tried in a court of law as adults?
Adolescents under the age of 18 can be tried as adults in some circumstances and sentenced according to adult guidelines, possibly for the rest of their lives.
In your response:
Use information from this module to support your opinion.
Consider various potential circumstances of when/how/if the “trial as adult” option should be used.
Consider as well the possibilities of who would be more likely to get arrested in the first place (vs warned), who would be more likely to have support and resources to fight the charges, and other contextual factors.
NOTE: You must first post your initial response in order to view and reply to your classmates responses.
Discussion Reminders:
Reference the resources from this module as part of your response to be eligible to earn full credit.
Make at least 2 comments on your peers’ posts. Consult the Canvas rubric for details – it is the same for all main discussions in this course, including the introductory discussion.
Please avoid “pre-posting” (posting a blank or minimal post ahead of your actual intended post). By doing this, you’re circumventing a setting that I’ve enabled so that everyone has to post their thoughts prior to having access to what your classmates have said. This helps so that people don’t worry about repeating each other or changing their answers to fit what someone else said. If you pre-post, your grade may be impacted. We ask that you refrain from “pre-posting.” You are getting around a setting that I’ve activated so that everyone needs to publish their thoughts before having access to what your classmates have said because you are doing this. I’ve enabled the setting so that I can: Because of this, people don’t have to worry about adjusting their replies to conform to what someone else has said or repeating what someone else has said. If you submit your work early, it may have an effect on the grade you receive.
Combining care for physical health with the influence of cognitive development, research is showing how overall lifespan health is affected by habits that begin in adolescence. Review the following video for a summary of this issue.
WHO: Health for the World’s Adolescents: A second chance in the second decade (Links to an external site.)WHO: Health for the World’s Adolescents: A second chance in the second decade
As additional reading, you are invited (but not required) to review the WHO website (Links to an external site.) related to the video above for further information.
WHAT MAKES THE ADOLESCENT BRAIN UNIQUE?
Please watch the following video to get a sense of what makes the adolescent brain different from that of an adult and what specific challenges that may pose to positive health and developmental outcomes.
As with all resources, I encourage you to read with a critical eye and dig into the studies and articles cited within popular news pieces to help make decisions about their credibility. I provide links to resources, articles, and blog posts in order to provide a variety of perspectives and opportunities for critical thinking, but some sources will be more scholarly and/or reputable than others.
4 hours ago
HEALTHY DEVELOPMENT AS A HUMAN RIGHT: LESSONS FROM DEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE
The following article argues that “Healthy psychological and brain development is not a privilege, but a fundamental right that requires special protections and opportunities for building cognitive, emotional, and social skills necessary for becoming a contributing member of our society.” Please read this review of neurological and psychological development in adolescence as it compares to adulthood. Pay special attention to the implications about adolescents in the judicial system.
Healthy Development as a Human Right (Links to an external site.)
INTERSECTIONAL LENS
Take a moment to think about adolescent cognitive development and incarceration. Now, add in the element of race and systemic racism resulting in significant disparities by race (Links to an external site.) in the incarcerated population. Taking it further still, consider than generally black children are viewed as older (Links to an external site.) and treated more harshly than their white peers of the same age. We will be discussing this issue as a class in your next assignment.
Perception of age differences based on race of child (Links to an external site.)
As with all resources, I encourage you to read with a critical eye and dig into the studies and articles cited within popular news pieces to help make decisions about their credibility. I provide links to resources, articles, and blog posts in order to provide a variety of perspectives and opportunities for critical thinking, but some sources will be more scholarly and/or reputable than others.
