Adolescents, Rapid Social Change, and the Law

En savoir plus sur le livre

This book reviews significant social changes impacting youth development and highlights the legal system's failure to adequately address adolescents’ rights. Legal experts analyze current protections for youth and propose research-based revisions to laws that often undermine or criminalize them under the guise of protection. Focusing on technology, media, education, and personal relationships, the chapters explore legal responses to various challenges facing young people, such as sexual exploitation, privacy rights, military family issues, and the school-to-prison pipeline. The book advocates for a nuanced understanding of legal protection that recognizes the competence of youth, aiming to empower adolescents to take ownership of their lives in a rapidly evolving society. Key topics include balancing freedom of expression with data protection rights, the impact of media sexualization on youth attitudes, the phenomenon of teenage sexting, safeguarding sexual identity in private schools, and addressing youth sex and labor trafficking. This volume serves as an essential resource for researchers, professors, clinicians, and graduate students in developmental psychology, family studies, public health, educational policy, and social policy.