In Loco Parentis Returns

Via Volokh, a Michael Yaki on the U.S. Commission of Civil Rights:

COMMISSIONER YAKI: [The prohibition on the execution of minors] has to do with science, and it has to do with the fact that more and more the vast majority, in fact I think overall in bodies of science is that young people, not just K through 12 but also between the ages of 16 to 20, 21 is where the brain is still in a stage of development.

It is not, and those studies by the way were utilized by the Supreme Court to rationalize why killing a minor was unconstitutional because in large part notwithstanding the fact that they did commit a crime and the court made it very clear, they weren’t going to excuse them from committing a crime.

Certain factors in how the juvenile or adolescent or young adult brain processes information is vastly different from the way that we adults do.

So when we sit back and talk about what is right or wrong in terms of First Amendment jurisprudence from a reasonable person’s standpoint, we are really not looking into the same referential viewpoint of these people, of an adolescent or young adult, including those in universities.

. . . .

And because of that, and because of the unique nature of a university campus setting, I think that there are very good and compelling reasons why broader policies and prohibitions on conduct in activities and in some instances speech are acceptable on a college campus level that might not be acceptable say in an adult work environment or in an adult situation.

And I am just trying to figure out from you how you square your reliance on this kind of personal and jurisprudent line in the atmosphere of colleges and universities as you have a population of young people, who for lack of a better word, don’t process in the same way that we do when we’re in our late 20s and 30s.

Volokh has his own criticisms, but I wan to point this out as another example of how, in the mouths of Leftists, "Freedom!" is just another bid for power. Leftists rest secure in the knowledge, however inconsistent their new-found enthusiasm for shepherding the unformed characters of college students along paths of righteousness is with, say, their advocacy of their rights to screw and vote for Democrats, these rights will remain secure. But if you want to exercise other rights, such as speech, press, and assembly, well, you'd better be communicating the Leftists' approved message. Or else!