Children’s Developmental (Im)maturity: Aligning Conflicting Decisional Capacity Assessment Approaches in Australia

Children’s decision-making is complex. There are many factors that contribute to children’s decisional capacity including cognitive reasoning, developmental maturity, upbringing and circumstances. For healthcare decisions, Australian law acknowledges autonomy, permits mature children consent beneficial healthcare. Yet, it also protects them from making life-changing decisions could contravene their best interests. The criminal approaches in Australia’s jurisdictions involves holding older fully responsible for decision-making, regardless of circumstances or maturity. two conflict because health offers a protective mechanism yet imposes punitive approach decision-making. This article considers whether the dichotomous assessments can be reconciled.