The Age of Majority and Legal Emancipation
3.1. The age separating legal adults from "minors" should be eliminated. Until this happens, the number of legal distinctions between adults and "minors" should decrease.
It would be impossible to identify all age restrictions in this document -- there are simply too many. Most are based on the concept that an arbitrary age can be set to separate "adults" from "minors" (the latter term many young people find demeaning). The limit comes not from a study of adolescents' capacities but rather from ancient standards of who is large enough to carry armor into war. Yet this age is used to determine who can legally sign binding contracts, marry without parental consent, and give medical consent, among countless other restrictions. Of course, all of us mature at different rates, and setting such an "age of majority" inevitably leaves some people mature enough to be considered adults in all other senses of the word without the rights they should have. In fact, several researchers, (including T. Grisso and L. Vierling, L.A. Weithorn and S.B. Campbell, and M.S. Wald) suggest that people age 14 and older are generally as competent as those 18 and older in making decisions.
Therefore, we ask that states both reduce the age that differentiates between the two types of citizens and work to smooth the transition to legal adulthood. Our goal should be a society where one's 18th birthday is no different than any other day.