Minority of age

A minor is, legally, an individual who has not yet reached adulthood. Minority includes all childhood and adolescence. In many Western countries, the age of majority is reached at 18 or 21 years. A minor would therefore be that person who, due to his chronological age, does not yet have full capacity to act. The specific law of each place will be in charge of establishing the age from which a person ceases to be a minor.

Minority and, by extension, the lack of full capacity to act, suppose a series of limits to the rights and responsibilities of the person. Limits are established on actions that it is considered that the minor does not have sufficient capacity to do on his behalf, and responsibility is exempted from acts that it is understood that cannot be imputed to him due to his lack of capacity.

In some legal systems "of legal age" and "adult" They are not, in their own sense, synonymous terms. Minors have several rights such as: 1. Right to study, 2. Right to a Name, 3. Right to a family, 4. Right to an Identity. These are some of the most important rights that all human beings have, whether they are children, adults or the elderly.

Adulthood

In much of the world, the age at which an individual is considered an adult is 18 or 21. In parts of Africa, adulthood is reached at 16 years.

In general, it can be said that adulthood supposes the legal presumption that there is full capacity in the individual to make decisions and act accordingly. Therefore, it supposes the increase of their possibilities of acting without the help of their parents or guardians or to carry out acts that were previously prohibited by reason of their minority (for example, driving motor vehicles, gambling, drinking alcohol, smoking, buy lottery, get married; among others or in some countries, work).

On the other hand, the fact that it is considered to have full capacity over its acts implies a series of responsibilities over them. In the case of the minor, he may not be responsible for some criminal proceedings or for acts that give rise to civil liability. It can also assume that parents or guardians are responsible for you. However, from adulthood, the only person responsible for his actions is the person himself, and he must answer for them before the courts.

However, it is common for there to be caveats for certain cases. Understanding that it does not conform to the reality that it is from a specific moment in which the person completely goes from having no capacity to having it fully, the different legal systems have been establishing a series of different ages from which the minor You can legally do a number of things without help.

For example, in the United States, you can drive cars from the age of 16. Being called up to the armed forces, buying cigarettes, entering casinos or adult places at 18, and consuming alcohol or voting at 21. Meanwhile, in others like Costa Rica, all of these things (except being called up to the armed forces, since said country does not have a military apparatus) are made upon reaching the age of majority, that is, at 18 years of age. In Europe, these limits are usually softer, and in some countries, 16 years of age is considered to be of legal age.

Regarding criminal law, it is possible that the specific legal system establishes a specific regulation for the criminal responsibility of minors, staggering in many cases their imputability or not. The legislator usually considers in these cases that a 10-year-old child cannot be equally responsible as a 17-year-old, despite the fact that both are minors.

In certain countries, depending on the seriousness of the crime, a minor can be tried as an adult. Such was the case with John Lee Malvo, who murdered 10 people in association with John Muhammad, in the Virginia area.

In Venezuela there is a debate about the division of the age of majority according to gender. The age of majority is proposed at 18 or 19 years for women and 19 or 20 for men. However, the current legal system establishes the age of majority at 18 years, regardless of gender.

Deprivation of liberty of Minors

The United Nations Rules for the protection of minors deprived of their liberty (Havana, 1990 - Res. 45/113, UN)- establish a minimum floor of conditions that the States that are part of the United Nations must comply to guarantee the human rights of children and adolescents deprived of their liberty; and their purpose is to protect minors who are deprived of their liberty, whatever the form of that deprivation of liberty, to protect their fundamental rights, to protect them from all the bad consequences that being deprived of liberty brings and that these minors be released as soon as possible and without harm.

Juvenile detention centers must be safe and prepared to avoid all kinds of accidents and fire risks; open and with very few security measures or none, if they are closed, the number of minors must be small so that the treatment can be truly individual; located in the same community so that the minor can be close to his family, friends and united with his social group; they must guarantee good and healthy food in quantity and quality and clean, drinkable and accessible water so that the minor can use it whenever he wants; with outdoor land and covered land so that they can do physical activity and with therapeutic physical education teachers for minors who need it; They must have a well-stocked library where they can read newspapers, magazines, watch movies, television and listen to the radio, they must have sufficient medical attention to prevent and cure diseases, dentists, eye doctors and mental health specialists and if the minor gets sick, they must notify your family and if you are a foreigner, notify the consular authorities (representatives of your country) they must have individual bedrooms or have very small groups and minors must be separated from small groups according to the type of treatment that best protects their intellectual well-being, their physical and moral integrity.

The privacy and dignity of the minor must always be respected; For this reason, the child or adolescent must have their own space to have their things and safe places to store them. He must be able to dress in his own clothes, private spaces for him to perform his physical needs in a clean and decent manner and his own spaces to receive visitors, study and pray according to his beliefs.