Fighting Youth Discrimination: Q&A with NYRA President Jeffrey Nadel

Are young people being discriminated against?

Founded in 1968, the National Youth Rights Association (NYRA, youthrights.org) says yes and works to educate the public on how laws intended to protect young people instead treat them as second-class citizens.

Reason.tv sat down with NYRA's president Jeffrey Nadel to discuss how drinking, curfew, and other laws punish young adults. Nadel points to New Jersey's Kyliegh's law as an example of how the unintended consequences of many laws aimed at protecting youth actually endanger them. The law requires drivers under the age of 21 to have a red decal on the license plates of the vehicles they drive, ostensibly to allow law enforcement to be more protective of them. But the decals have instead lead violent drivers to target those cars; infractions by younger drivers also come with harsher penalties for typical traffic violations. Instead of one-size-fits-all policies that punish responsible youth, Nadel says that decisions about alcohol consumption, work hours, and even voting should be more tailored to individuals, regardless of age.

For more on Kyleigh's Law, read Reason magazine's June 2011 story "Dead Kids Make Bad Laws." (http://reason.com/archives/2011/05/24/dead-kids-make-bad-laws) And on lowering the drinking age, check out Reason.tv's "21: Is It Time to Lower the Drinking Age" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qQzYUZ_MNU) and Reason magazine's "Back to 18" (http://reason.com/archives/2007/04/12/back-to-18).

Interview by Michelle Fields. Shot by Jim Epstein and Joshua Swain; edited by Swain.

Approximately 4.18 minutes.

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[wadams19]

helllloooo michelle!

[Libertarianist]

I have a funny feeling that ReasonTV is going to become a lot more popular now. It feels like my pants are getting tighter.

[nightvidcole]

@billybassman21 No, stricter laws are not one reason. This decline (I assume you are talking about the US?) has been paralleled in other age groups as well, which would not occur if your hypothesis was correct.

Your post is an example of irrational anti-youth bias that pervades our society.

[Xaisede]

I will support this group even when I am old.

[kickerjamz86]

Why should young people have to pay more I work all the time and over two hundred and fifty dollars is taken from me a week from my check. That's is absolute bullshit. Why should someone over 21 not be taxed as much. Lol that's not rigjt

[billybassman21]

Juvenile crime has been on the decline since the early 90s. So has teen driving deaths. Kids don't need to be out late unless they have someone to be approed by their parents. Some of these cerfew laws are insane, but they get these punks that commit crimes off the streets.

BTW car crashes is the #1 killer of teens. The number has declined in resent years and stricter laws to get license is one reason.

[mitchblatt1dot1com]

"It's this generation that is going to have to bare the burden of this debt, and we should have a voice [and vote]." /// So he wants to increase that debt even more by giving youth the right to vote? Does he know that youths typically vote for more spending and higher taxes (youth are mostly liberal)? How exactly does increasing the debt help youths?

[piandcompany]

@Richiemac529 What do you mean by that?

[Wasp16mm]

NYRA = jew$ for teenage alcoholism.

how much money did NYRA & reason get from soros for this? !

[mindOFAlibertarian]

@VegasBilgeRat Yep, but how to draft a good anti-moron test? Ivy leage colleges are full of obama loving professors, and IQ test also dont measure intelligence. I personally know people who are great in math, I mean basic math not einstein stuff, the point is they would score more then me in IQ test, but they got a huge problem with rational thinking ... even sense of humor

[Panpiper]

Ok, I want a ten minute interview 'of' Michelle Fields telling us why she is a Libertarian. I betcha she'd convert a lot of menfolk.

[josephschwenker]

Whaa? They don't take a stance on age of consent? That's unfortunate. I hope they decide to eventually take a stance, though given Nadel's views on giving parents rights to raise youth without government interference, I'm not quite sure I would agree. It's the child's life, not the parents'.