To the editor:

Following the Oct. 5 On the Street question, in which a disturbing three-fourths of respondents indicated that a 13-year-old should be tried as an adult for murder, I have to wonder: Why do we assume that a child of 13 who commits murder is competent and able to weigh that action with the wisdom of an adult, but at the same time insist that a person of 15, or even 17, who engages in voluntary sex must be treated legally as a child?

When violence is involved we increasingly insist that children have the ability to think clearly and with reason about their actions, and therefore we hold them to adult standards. Yet when sexual decisions are involved, we see them as unable to reason for themselves, even unable to be trusted with information, leading to abstinence-only sex-ed.

What does it say about our society, our views of violence, our views of sex, that in one instance we are quick to try children as adults for crimes, and yet in the other instance we afford them no faith in their ability to make decisions for themselves? Why should a child of 13, who is understood not to have the cognitive skills necessary to safely operate a car, be held to standards of mental competence regarding violence that in other areas are considered beyond his or her mental abilities? We cannot have it both ways.

Either they can think for themselves, or they can’t. Which is it?

Angela Richmond List,

Lawrence