The American Psychological Association's (APA's) stance on the psychological maturity of adolescents has been criticized as inconsistent. In its Supreme Court amicus brief in "Roper v. Simmons" (2005), which abolished the juvenile death penalty, APA described adolescents as developmentally immature. In its amicus brief in "Hodgson v. Minnesota"…

The authors use a developmental perspective to examine questions about the criminal culpability of juveniles and the juvenile death penalty. Under principles of criminal law, culpability is mitigated when the actor's decision-making capacity is diminished, when the criminal act was coerced, or when the act was out of character. The authors argue…

This article examines the legal histories and social contexts of testimony and interrogation involving minors, developmental research on suggestibility and judgment, interactions between development and legal/sociological contexts, and the reasoning behind how minors are treated in different legal contexts. The authors argue (a) that young…

Interviewed Hindu religious renunciates living in Varanasi and Pondicherry, India. Analysis of excerpts from three representative interviews indicated that these men rated as highly mature by Western developmental models, but Western correlates of life satisfaction were not found to hold for these men. Considers implications for Western aging,…

Significant experiences with death and dying can be viewed as maturational crises through which people learn to cope with themselves during adversity and change. The death counselor needs to be knowledgeable about human development across the lifespan and sensitive to the problems of communication. (Author)

A structured interview was used to ascertain the level of understanding of the concept of death in 52 elementary school children. Data analysis showed sex, religious affilation, and the death of a close relative had little or no relationship to the level of understanding of death. (Author/RL)

In this article the author looks at the image of journey and its archeform, quest, and finds two spiritual concepts: that of movement to the center followed by a return, and the concomitant understanding that all that has arisen and reached maturity must return to renew itself. Four journeys, the shamanic journey of soul, the hero's journey of…