> Presumably a unified "age of adulthood" would be more logically justifiable but that's not where modern societies tend to end up. It depends. Some things hav

> Presumably a unified "age of adulthood" would be more logically justifiable but that's not where modern societies tend to end up. It depends. Some things have different consequences than others, and it makes sense to phase them in. If you list them by age, it probably makes more sense. For example, in Germany, assumption of liability is gradual, with criminal liability starting later: - 7 years: limited liability starts (court gets to figure out if the kid could have understood the consequences of their action in each case). traffic related cases remain exempt. - 10: limited liability in traffic starts - 14: limited criminal liability starts (juvenile penal code applies) - 16: limited drinking (beer, wine, no spirits), assumption of sexual self-determination, driving certain vehicles (motorized bicycles), voting at the county level, marriage possible under certain circumstances - 18: treated like an adult: vote, drive, drink, have full legal/criminal liability, except that it can be reduced to juvenile level if a court determines that your development lags behind - 21: end of fall back to juvenile penal code The main issue in the US seems to be that every state and county has its own rules that add to the complexity, but for any single location I don't think it will be much more complex than the above.