Overview

Children are treated differently compared to adults in many domains, including in health care, education, employment, and criminal justice. The differential treatment of children—to adults, and in the case of younger children and adolescents, to each other—makes it both practically and theoretically important to examine the justification of when and why this treatment is permissible. Because the justifications of children’s differential treatment typically appeal to foundational normative considerations—matters of autonomy, responsibility, and well-being—they provoke considerable controversy and disagreement in law and ethics, especially, though not exclusively in the contexts of health care, sexual relations, and criminal justice. Consenting Children brings together philosophers and academic lawyers to grapple with these matters and domains and to share disciplinary and interdisciplinary insights and understanding. The volume’s contributors engage in deep and fruitful discussions of children’s consent and responsibility, decision-making capacity and best interests, as well as the role, powers, and duties of parents and state institutions. The volume lays the groundwork for future engagement in the legal and philosophical literature with the controversies raised by children’s autonomy, responsibility, and well-being, and the myriad interactions between them concerning children’s consent.

Full Product Details

Author:   Lisa Forsberg ,  Isra Black ,  Anthony Skelton
Publisher:   Liverpool University Press
Imprint:   The British Academy
Volume:   279
ISBN:  

9781836245674

ISBN 10:   183624567
Pages:   342
Publication Date:   21 October 2025
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Note on Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction Consenting Children Lisa Forsberg, Isra Black and Anthony Skelton Children’s Consent and Capacity 1. Setting the Standard(s) for Capacity: Are Children Different? Mary Donnelly and Barry Lyons Competence for Minors in Medical Decision-Making: A Life-Stage Approach Andrew Franklin-Hall Asymmetry of Adolescent Decision-Making Capacity and Rational Choice Isra Black Minors and Sexual Consent Jennifer Epp Children’s Consent and Other Parties 5. Children and Consent: Best Interests, Parents, and A Child’s Views David Archard The Interaction of Children’s Capacity Regimes and Parental and Judicial Powers: A ‘Strictly’ Legal View Sir Jonathan Montgomery A Future Orientated View of Autonomy Emma Cave Medical Treatment Refusals by Teenagers and the Law: Justice that is More Caring? Jo Bridgeman Consent to Medical Treatment for Trans Youth in Australia Steph Jowett On Sharing the Normative Power of Consent Peter Schaber Treating Adolescents Differently Anthony Skelton, Isra Black, and Lisa Forsberg Children and Ineffective Consent Lisa Forsberg Children’s Responsibility 13. The Prospective Stance: Children and Responsibility Meghan Winsby Consent and Responsibility: How (Not) to Justify Diverging Thresholds for Minors Maximilian Kiener What’s Special About Juvenile Justice? David O. Brink Index

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Author Information

Lisa Forsberg is Senior Research Fellow at the Uehiro Oxford Institute & Research Fellow at Somerville College, Oxford Isra Black is Associate Professor at UCL Faculty of Laws Anthony Skelton is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Western Ontario

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