Extended Adolescent Development in International Juvenile Justice: Modernizing the U.N. Standards and Norms with Scientific Progress and Law

Abstract

In light of recent research about the prolonged period of adolescent development and its subsequent impact on youth crime, there is room to improve how we understand international juvenile justice today. By using this research and demonstrating the effect it has had on case law and statutory law, I argue that there is an opportunity for the international human rights community to modernize juvenile justice standards and expand the jurisdiction of juvenile law to include young adults into their mid-twenties. Failure to do so is a de facto violation of the spirit of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the human rights of juvenile justice youth.

Keywords: Juvenile Justice, International, Human Rights, Adolescence, Neuroscience, Youth Crime, United Nations

JEL Classification: Z18