Give Credit Where Credit is due

[juli17ptf]

No: HPFGUIDX 150255

mrsweasley wrote:
> 
> In conclusion I think that we as adults need to stop thinking that 
> these kids are not able to perform on the level as adults.  They seem 
> to prove time and time again that isn't the case.
> 
> mrs_weasley2004
>

Julie:
I agree that these kids (teenagers) are able to perform on the same 
level as adults. Where I would qualify that is whether they perform 
with the same *understanding* as adults. It's a scientific fact that 
the brain continues to develop throughout the teens and well into the 
twenties, as does a person's way of making decisions, calculating risks 
and understanding consequences. I think here of several different real 
life teenagers/young adults who were involved in various crimes in the 
US, from Charles Manson followers, to abortion clinic bombers, to a 
young man who killed a police officer. They each disappeared after 
their crimes, started a new life that eventually led to career, home, 
family, community and church involvemnt, living those new lives for 20, 
30 even 40 years as model citizens, never again committing any crimes. 
They *had* committed serious crimes, including murder, in their youth, 
yet they subsequently lived lives as normal as yours or mine.

BTW, I'm not arguing that these people, who were eventually captured 
and tried many years after their crimes, no longer deserved punishment. 
I'm just pointing out that people make rash, stupid, even evil choices 
in their youth, yet can repudiate those choices by going on to live a 
normal life without incident, even making valuable contributions to 
society. Shades of Snape, perhaps? Or the future Draco? Or even the 
transformation of Berk!TeenageJames into Noble!AdultJames?

So I would agree that we can't underestimate what teenagers will do, 
from the Maurader's nastier pranks to Draco's attempted murder. But we 
also should remember they don't have mature thought processes yet, and 
perhaps this is why Dumbledore sees them as salvageable even when they 
are at their worst. 

Julie