Transcription
Adult, child. What is the age that our brains become adult? 18, 21, 25? You decide.
May 7, 2016: 1:00pm: Listening to: Impossible by Lacey Sturm
Hi everybody, I have a topic I would like to discuss. What's important to me are a few things here. I want to know what everyday people think. I also want to be put in contact with any brain development specialist that is willing to talk to me & last, if anyone can help me find any research or studies that have been done on this, I would really appreciate it. If my Canadian comrade still reads this, I would also appreciate any help you can give me. As a college graduate, maybe you can help? Please let me know.
Like most men who life weights, I am stupid. I was hurt a few years ago from an exercise called The Deadlift. I haven't done it since. I lived with sciatica & pain for quite a while. They have a power lifting contest here so, like a fool, I entered & was training. Well, there went my back again. 5 days in bed & today I am able to sit up, not without pain though. When it comes to weights, men are foolish. I quit the heavy weights as of now. Let me get to my thoughts though.
Let me start off with this is in no way an excuse. I killed someone. The police had 4 family members who all said I told them I was going to do it. That was a lie, but it's what they said. But that doesn't negate the fact that I took a life. But this is the argument & the science. Neuroscience & neurobiology have proved that our brains are not fully developed until we about 24-25. Ages 19-21, you have the brain still of an adolescent. There have been many studies on this & articles written.
My problem is I have no computer so I do not have anyway to access this info. I am asking anyone reading this, if you have the time, can you google this topic, print out whatever you can find & mail it to me? There are a few rules. You must not put a name & return address on all mail or it will not be delivered to me. If you don't want to tell me who you are, you can put a false name & false address.
There are a few people who are big time in this field. One is Dr. Laurence Steinberg of Temple University (email @ 1ds@temple.edu). He wrote many articles on this for the American Psychologist Publication. A few other names are: Elizabeth S. Scott, Professor of Law at Columbia Law School; B.J. Casey, Director of the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology at Cornell's Weil Medical College; Vincent Schiraldi, Senior Research at Havard Kennedy School's Program in Criminal Justice Policy & Management. He was once the Commissioner of the probation office in New York City.
These people were quoted in a Newsweek article of 4/29/15. They all agree that we do not magically become a responsible adult the day we turn 18, especially those of us who grew up with no rules, no role models, no one to show us how to do things right. Sure, we all know right from wrong, but the mind is more complex than that. Studies show that people ages 21 & under do not think about nor care about the consequences of what they do today if the consequences could be 5 years down the road. Of course, studies do not cover every single person; we are all different.
I attempted to cover up my crime by disposing of the evidence. I didn't care about 5 years down the road. I cared about my life with my Justine right then & there. None of this excuses my crime. But what I am trying to do is mitigate it. There is no excuse, no way to make it right. I did not want to kill him, but it happened. But can we understand why it happened?
I really would like to have someone in the psychology field to speak to. My coal is to find someone willing to look at my life, speak to me, interview me, & in the end, evaluate me. I do not have any money. I come from a poor family & I make 18¢ an hour in this prison. But the people I mentioned earlier, can anyone possibly google something like (I'm thinking) brain development? When our brains become adult, development of social maturity; I am not exactly sure what to google. But Elizabeth Scott & Dr. Laurence Steinberg seem to be 2 of the top people in this discussion.
Would I have made the same choices now as I did at 21 years old? I'm a mature, responsible 39 year old man now. I am not a 21 years old kid. Let's forget that I was 32. Let's use someone else. A juvenile cannot be sentenced to life in prison anymore, unless there are some very bad circumstances to the original murder or a lifelong history of violence (there must be a lengthy pattern). So someone who is 17 but 1 day shy of his 18th birthday cannot get life. But someone who kills someone on their 18th birthday can get life.
We don't automatically become adults at 18. I can't buy alcohol, but I can die for my country if I choose that path. Did you know that the United States legal age for adulthood was established well over 100 years ago, back when people were already married & had kids by the age of 16?
It's time for the country to realize that we are not mature adults at 18. In Germany, you are a juvenile at 21; in Sweden, it's 25. Now in New York City, they are prosecuting more people ages 16-24 in a special court that deals with juveniles & young adults because they are realizing that the mind & how you've been raised makes the difference in how you mature, when, & who you will become. I am no expert in this field, but I know that at 21, I thought I was a man but I was far from it.
So anyone wishing to help me with research & locating the people I mentioned (I need mailing addresses for them) or anyone else that your might be able to find, especially in my local area (Eastern PA, Luzerne Country, or anyone as far as Philadelphia), send me their contact info. I cannot do this alone so I am asking for help.
To all the moms out there, I hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day tomorrow. I'll call my mom & we'll schedule our next visit for Memorial Day weekend. I can't wait to see my niece, Baby Lucy. She loves to play & maybe this time we can go outside & play on the sliding board. I'm not sure if my address of this is correct. Just in case, my mailing address is:
Robert Pezzeca #DX1148
Sci Dallas
1000 Follies Road
Dallas, PA 18612
Take care, enjoy the spring, plan your picnics & family get-togethers & have fun. Hope to hear from yous soon. God bless, ciao.
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Replies (3)
Brain Maturity Extends Well Beyond Teen Years
Under most laws, young people are recognized as adults at age 18. But emerging science about brain development suggests that most people don't reach full maturity until the age 25. Guest host Tony Cox discusses the research and its implications with Sandra Aamodt, neuroscientist and co-author of the book Welcome to Your Child's Brain.
TONY COX, host: I'm Tony Cox and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. We'd like to spend this part of the program talking about the passage from childhood to adulthood and how that may be tougher for one distinct group of young people.
Most of the privileges and responsibilities of adulthood are legally granted by the age of 18. That's when you can vote, enlist in the military, move out on your own, but is that the true age of maturity? A growing body of science says, no. That critical parts of the brain involved in decision-making are not fully developed until years later at age 25 or so.
In a moment, we'll hear about how child advocates are hoping to use this research to change the laws about their foster care. But first, to learn more about adolescent brain development and maturity, we are joined now by neuroscientist, Sandra Aamodt. She is the coauthor of the book, "Welcome to Your Child's Brain: How the Mind Grows from Conception to College." Sandra, welcome to the program. It's nice to have you.
Dr. SANDRA AAMODT: It's nice to be here.
COX: Is this idea that the brains of 18 year olds aren't fully developed a matter of settled science?
AAMODT: Yes. The car rental companies got to it first, but neuroscientists have caught up and brain scans show clearly that the brain is not fully finished developing until about age 25.
COX: To not be too clinical in the spin that we put on this, what parts of the brain are we talking about and what changes happen between the ages of 18 and, let's say, 25?
AAMODT: So the changes that happen between 18 and 25 are a continuation of the process that starts around puberty, and 18 year olds are about halfway through that process. Their prefrontal cortex is not yet fully developed. That's the part of the brain that helps you to inhibit impulses and to plan and organize your behavior to reach a goal.
And the other part of the brain that is different in adolescence is that the brain's reward system becomes highly active right around the time of puberty and then gradually goes back to an adult level, which it reaches around age 25 and that makes adolescents and young adults more interested in entering uncertain situations to seek out and try to find whether there might be a possibility of gaining something from those situations.
AAMODT: Well, actually, one of the side effects of these changes in the reward system is that adolescents and young adults become much more sensitive to peer pressure than they were earlier or will be as adults. So, for instance, a 20 year old is 50 percent more likely to do something risky if two friends are watching than if he's alone.
COX: Is there a difference between males and females with regard to their brain development, particularly in this age category?
AAMODT: Females' brains develop about on average two years earlier than male brains, so you're more likely to have a late developing male brain than female.
COX: So when females say they're smarter than guys, it really is true?
AAMODT: Especially around about the age of 15 or so. Yes.
COX: What does this mean? In a minute, we're going to be hearing from some advocates who think that the foster care system needs to be changed, in that in some states, when you reach the age of 18, you are booted out of foster care and their argument is based on some of the research that you are now citing that these young people are not really ready for the adult world.
What is the impact for someone who lives in a foster care kind of setting as far as their brain development is concerned?
AAMODT: One of the things that deprived childhood causes is problems with prefrontal cortex function, so somebody who has had an unstable home life is more likely to have trouble with planning and organizing behavior and with inhabiting impulses than somebody who has had a stable life.
COX: Would you say, based on the research that you are now citing, that it would make more sense to have the legal age become 25 instead of 18 or 21 in some cases?
AAMODT: I think it makes sense to have different ages for different functions. Obviously some 18 year olds are competent to go out into the world and handle things by themselves and some of them aren't. It would be nice if we had a little more flexibility to distinguish the two in the legal system.
COX: Final thing is, if these age limits are not adjusted to take into account the effect that the research has shown, what is the price - if I can put it that way - that society will end up paying down the road? I know that's a pretty large question. But another way of saying it is how important is it for us to address this and do something about it now?
AAMODT: Many of the costs of adolescents are actually - what we think of as the costs of adolescence, the risks of crime and car accidents and all the crazy things that adolescents do are actually more issues with young adults, people in the 18 to 25 age range, largely because they have more opportunities to get into these kinds of trouble.