The U.S. Supreme Court considered the research on the adolescent brain when it barred the death penalty for crimes committed by adolescents under the age of 18 and also banned life sentences without parole for nonhomicidal crimes committed by minors. The same professional associations that argued to the U.S. Supreme Court that adolescents are not as mature as adults, and consequently should not be punished as adults for their criminal acts, have also argued that most minors are sufficiently mature to make certain medical treatment decisions without parental consent. Can these seemingly contradictory positions be reconciled?

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Answer Yes these seemingly contradictory positions can be reconciled by understanding the nuanced di... View the full answer