Dr. Louise Forde:

Very quickly, just to add to the other points that have been made, those international legal obligations that recommend a minimum age of 14 is based on a body of neuroscientific evidence. It is based on an acknowledgement that the capacity of children, and especially very young children, is still evolving in a very complex way. They do not have the full capacity to make rational decisions. They do not have the capacity to understand the full consequences of their actions in the same way as adults because of the normative changes that happen to all children in early adolescence. There is an increased susceptibility to risk-taking behaviour, sensation seeking and, especially, to negative peer influence. This body of neuroscientific evidence is what is underpinning the international recommendations on standards in this area.