When I was 14 (I'm 43 now) I read book like Summerhill,
   Unschooling, why Johnny can't read, etc - and inspired, found
   out "What's my legal status at 14 yrs old?" At 14? Legally? An
   infant. While they've made some exceptions (14 yr old can be
   tried as adults in murder cases in many places), generally, if
   you're 17 yrs old and 364 days, you're an infant. A baby. Very
   archaic system. == the power dynamic make it a difficult issue.
   Power dynamics go both ways; but that's where "age of
   responsibility for actions" comes into play. Theoretically, all
   people are expected to have finally reached the ability to have
   full self-determination at a particular point in development.
   Most places use 18. Some younger. At one time it was older. 21
   or 25 wasn't uncommon. Personally, I see nothing wrong with a
   graduated scale that's not ageist (speaking beyond the OP issue
   here) - but how do you measure maturity? Responsibility? I'm not
   defending the age of 18 or some other age for these things. But
   I think society will continue using simple, convenient numbers
   like number of years on the planet to determine certain
   barriers. It's ageism. But there's many other issues besides
   this one that can get focus that also involve ageism in culture
   and law that can be addressed. I believe in the 70s (before my
   time) there was some academic work in this area but I think
   there's far more practical ageist law to combat than this one.
   ==