Is Florida protecting parents’ rights? Some might say no.
We have all heard so much about the Parental Rights in Education Bill that was passed by the Florida Legislature and signed into law by Governor DeSantis. But only one very small part of that bill has been in the news. There are actually many aspects (or parental rights) listed in HB 1557 that have not received the same amount of media coverage.
As the Florida Legislature was seeking to enact these numerous parental rights, they forgot that they have completely disregarded parental rights over the years as they expanded the power of the state at the expense of parents’ rights.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, in 2017, the California Legislature decided that “criminals who had been under the age of 26 at the time of their offense, including sex offenders, should not be held fully accountable for their crimes and be eligible for early parole as youthful offenders. The rationale was that their brains are not fully matured and they lack understanding of the consequences of their actions.”
This is not rocket science. Specialists have known for decades that the frontal lobe (where judgment is located) does not fully develop for individuals until sometime in their twenties.
When you study HB 1557, one has to wonder if a parent whose child made a major mistake early in their life for which they will have to spend the rest of their life on the Florida sex offense registry, would that parent want ALL the parental rights listed in HB 1557, or would they trade those rights for the right to have their child NOT be required to register as a “Sex Offender” or “Sexual Predator” for life?
I think we all know the answer, but Tallahassee does not.
We are not saying that there should be no consequences for juveniles who break the law, but landing on the sex offense registry? I would gladly give up all of my newly-passed parental rights in education for the right to protect my child from the registry.
The ability to make good judgment is not a switch that all of a sudden at a certain age is activated. Some 10 yr olds have shown their ability to make great decisions at critical times other 50 yr old do really dumb things. This age of accountability has varied from anywhere from 13 to 30.
Example in the first century and for a thousand yrs. Before that the age was 30. That is why even Jesus a perfect man didn’t start his ,ministry till 30. That was the age a male was assumed to be an adult at that time. Females was different because they were not considered as having to be responsible for making decisions in supporting a household. Though they had many responsibilities as to managing household duties and taking car of children.
At times younger ones had responsibilities because of circumstances some as Kings or other reasons. But they had adults to advise them as to how they should handle situations. Even adults need advice at times.
If you want examples of people over 18 that do immature things just go to spring break functions.
If you really want to judge impartially age is just one factor to take into consideration . There is environment , upbringings, mental abilities and traumatic events. Would you judge someone with PTSD the same as you would someone else. Many people may have it but it’s undiagnosed.
We now have a generation that is growing up with school shootings and similar traumatic events like the pandemic. What effect is this going to have on their behavior? Continuing to make things harsher is not the answer.
This is just my opinion.