Come on, it's a no-brainer! (almost literally)

Teenagers don't have adult brains - that's a psychological and anatomical fact.

All you need is some teenagers of your own or an MRI scanner to hand to find this out for yourself!

a) Our brains are still restructuring past the age of 20, the prefrontal cortex (frontal lobes) in particular.

b) It just so happens that the prefrontal cortex facilitates abstract thinking, self-control and making moral judgements.

c) Is it sensible to extend suffrage to a group that is inherently lacking in these qualities?

Neuroscientist Jay Geidd, of the US National Institutes of Health is involved in this kind of research and sums it up quite nicely...

"It's not that the teens are stupid or incapable... It's sort of unfair to expect them to have adult levels of organisational skills or decision-making before their brain is finished being built."

(Recommended reading: "The Primal Teen" by Barbara Straught)