Oh! You're not 18 yet? Well, what do we have here, a Juvenile! No no, you can't vote or drink or marry or drive or be called adult. You can't bunk class, stop the adolescent acne and moods, and prevent mommy from pulling your cheeks or giving you a tiffin box for school. You can't do that and much more as yet, my child. But you know what you can do? You can rape, and get away with just a rap on the knuckles! Just a rap. You can be a monster-on-the-loose, and the safe hands of Law will still carry some charity lollipops and candy for you.
Feeling lucky, huh? But you won't be forever below 18 till you die, and you will die one day. We all do. We all will. Oh but then, on second thoughts, you needn't worry about death either actually, for your very being died the most shameful death the day it raped and took another's life! And dead men can't die - whether below 18, 18 or way above. Double congratulations! You are safe - both from punishment and from death.
In the mean time, we the passers-by will just sit praying and hoping for the Thorns of conscience within you to maybe prick your peace - unless the Thorns too, tragically and like the Law, think you're just a kid deserving of a chance for reformation and education. After all, if the inches in the pants can grow, why can't the inches between your ears, says the Law book, right?
May you never rest in peace as you walk this Earth!
I am not very aware of the arguments being given for and against the reduction of the age for juvenility but as a notable gentleman said on TV, as long as there is a cut off age, there will always be aberrants on the edge.
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