Separate Childhood Laws and the Future of Society

Abstract

This article reflects upon the way how law and legal regulations on behalf of children have responded to childhood by setting up separate legal regimes. It looks at the origins of child protection and juvenile justice legislation and at the legal framework that deals with child labor. The differences between children and adults are deemed so fundamental that they have justified the setting up of different legal regimes for children, which are thought of as being better equipped to take children’s particularities into account and hence to better prepare them for the future. However, the establishment of separate childhood laws in order to better take into account children’s special needs, has in practice partially pushed children out of existing legal frameworks. This has prevented children from exercising a whole other set of fundamental rights and has not only strengthened but in some instances paradoxically also weakened their legal status.