Vulnerability, Childhood and the Law (SpringerBriefs in Law)

Synopsis

This book will challenge the orthodox view that children cannot have the same rights as adults because they are particularly vulnerable. It will argue that we should treat adults and children in the same way as the child liberationists claim. However, the basis of that claim is not that children are more competent than we traditionally given them credit for, but rather that adults are far less competent than we give them credit for. It is commonly assumed that children are more vulnerable. That is why we need to have a special legal regime for children. Children cannot have all the same rights as adults and need especial protect from harms. While in the 1970s “child liberationists” mounted a sustained challenge to this image, arguing that childhood was a form of slavery and that the assumption that children lacked capacity was unsustainable. This movement has significantly fallen out of favour, particularly given increasing awareness of child abuse and the multiple ways that children can be harmed at the hands of adults. This book will explore the concept of vulnerability, the way it used to undermine the interests of children and our assumptions that adults are not vulnerable in the same way that children are. It will argue that a law based around mutual vulnerability can provide an approach which avoids the need to distinguish adults and children.

Copyright:

2018

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

ISBN-13:

9783319786865

Related ISBNs:

9783319786858

Publisher:

Springer International Publishing

Date of Addition:

10/18/18

Copyrighted By:

The Author

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

Nonfiction, Reference, Psychology, Social Studies, Law, Legal Issues and Ethics, Philosophy

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.