wilkes

Though I have never considered the ability to legally consume alcohol a proper test of adulthood, I concede that point. And, sadly, there are also forty, fifty, and yes sixty-year olds who do not act like adults as well, though, I think we would consider them as such. {As a personal aside: the Bitter Old Woman has said on more than one occasion that I am entering into my third childhood. I just hope this isn’t the one that leads to me eating baby food, drooling on myself and requiring my children to change my diapers.}Except for cases of insanity a person’s psychological makeup has little to do with criminal law.

I have always advocated the need for review and revision of the law. However, I, for one, do not feel that this is one of those that needs revision.

Though it appears that I am in the minority, I can not help but wonder why some choose to absolve this adult of any responsibility. Certainly the minor should be accountable for her actions, and in my opinion, her parents have the responsibility for holding her accountable. That the minor was wrong does not absolve the adult from acting responsibly.

Society has deemed that reaching one’s 18th birthday is a milestone. Before that day a person is considered a child and is the responsibility of his parents. After that day a person is an adult and is considered capable of facing the world on his own. The crime of Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor (or how ever it is termed here in North Carolina) was written (or so it seems to me) to address those times when children act as children are want to do and adults fail to act as adults are supposed to act.

North Carolina grants a good many (some might argue too many) rights to a person when he turns sixteen. A sixteen-year-old has the right to quit school, the right to drive a car (under limited circumstances,) the right to engage in sexual activity, and the responsibility of being treated as an adult should he or she violate criminal law. However, North Carolina maintains that until a person turns eighteen he is not an adult and can not act or be treated as one. Minors (those under eighteen) can not enter into contracts, can not marry (without parental permission or court decree,) can not vote or purchase a handgun. Also state law requires that a parent provide the necessities of life for these minors.

In this instance an adult was (allegedly) helping a minor thwart her parents. A responsible adult would have called her parents or the authorities and reported her whereabouts thus saving himself from the charge of Contributing.

It has been postulated that the Statute belongs to another age, one that has long since past. Perhaps, but I would argue that there is a greater need today for the statute to be enforced than ever. Back in my youth (I can recall that time, though dimly) a young lady’s father would have shown up with a shotgun and there would have either been a wedding or a funeral had a young fellow been hiding said young lady from her parents. In today’s world where it seems adults want to play like they are children and children (I’m sorry, but to me, sixteen is still a child) are trying to grow up before their time there needs to be a law (obviously societal pressure doesn’t work) separating the two.

On the other hand, I am old and bitter and am a father who has daughters.