Adolescence: Extend it or disregard it?

This recent story of a teen being charged with a felony for robbing an elderly man at gun point has gotten a lot of press. Mainly from people who think the punishment does not match the crime. He did only steal 7 cents. I am not interested in that debate though (mainly because I think it is rather simple, it does not matter if he stole 7 cents or 7 million cents. He and his mate held a man up at gun point. Just because they accidently picked a seemingly poor man has no effect on the heinousness of the crime. I guess maybe I am slightly more interested than I previously thought, as this parenthetical thought is expanding quicker than the average weight of adolescents in the US. Sorry, too soon? Anyway…)

The debate I am interested in is whether the defendant should have been punished as an adult or a juvenile. I think how a society answers that question has serious implications. I think how the Church answers this question has a huge impact on how it does youth ministry. How are we going to treat our young people? Some would argue that he should be punished to the full extent of the law like an adult. The assumption that governs their thinking is that teenagers in developing countries act out because we treat them like children and that extended adolescence either is not real or should be avoided. Others though would argue that because of his age that he should be given a much lighter punishment and that when he reaches adulthood that this crime should not be reflected on his record. Many churches and youth ministries are developing specific ministries for this new demographic of late adolescence. The latter assumption is infiltrating our thought without much actual thought being put into it. This may seem like a seemingly unimportant debate, one that should be left for daytime talk television, but I honestly think it has huge implications in the field of youth ministry. Today, I found out I’m not alone in that. Mark Oestreicher and The Youth Cartel are willing to put up 4,000 dollars of their own money (and hopefully 6,000 of yours) to get the Church to interact with these two schools of thought. I hope their Extended Adolescence Symposium happens. I doubt a consensus would be reached, but simply by dialogue with the debate I think the Church and its ministry to youth is better off.