American Sixteen- and Seventeen-Year-Olds Are Ready to Vote
American Sixteen- and Seventeen-Year-Olds Are Ready to Vote
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美国十六岁和十七岁的孩子准备投票
DOI：
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发表时间：
2011
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
R. Atkins
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
D. Hart;R. Atkins
美国 16 岁和 17 岁的人应该被允许在州和全国选举中投票。这一主张基于一系列论证，该论证始于对公民的法律和哲学概念的解释，这些概念确定了公民的核心品质：成员资格、对权利的关注和社会参与。这些品质中的每一个都在童年和青春期以基本形式存在。对全国调查数据的分析表明，到了 16 岁（但不是之前），美国青少年在各项公民素质方面的发展水平与被允许投票的美国年轻人的发展水平大致相同。 16 岁和 17 岁的公民与合法公民之间在公民身份方面缺乏相关差异，这使得现行法律具有任意性，剥夺了 18 岁以下公民的投票权。鉴于美国年龄人口结构的变化，导致越来越多的老年选民在政治舞台上取代了年轻美国人的利益，赋予 16 岁和 17 岁的年轻人投票权非常重要。最后，作者批判性地检验了青少年在神经学和社会学上都不够成熟，无法负责任地投票的说法，并得出结论，经验证据和公平性表明，16 岁和 17 岁的孩子应该获得投票权。
American 16- and 17-year-olds ought to be allowed to vote in state and national elections. This claim rests upon a line of argument that begins with an exegesis of legal and philosophical notions of citizenship that identify core qualities of citizenship: membership, concern for rights, and participation in society. Each of these qualities is present in rudimentary form in childhood and adolescence. Analyses of national survey data demonstrate that by 16 years of age—but not before— American adolescents manifest levels of development in each quality of citizenship that are approximately the same as those apparent in young American adults who are allowed to vote. The lack of relevant differences in capacities for citizenship between 16- and 17-year-olds and those legally enfranchised makes current laws arbitrary, denying those younger than age 18 the right to vote. Awarding voting rights to 16- and 17-year-olds is important, given the changing age demographics in the country, which have resulted in the growing block of older voters displacing the interests of younger Americans in the political arena. Finally, the authors critically examine claims that adolescents are neither neurologically nor socially mature enough to vote responsibly and conclude that empirical evidence and fairness suggest that 16- and 17-year-olds ought to be awarded the vote.