Consenting Children: Autonomy, Responsibility, Well-Being (Proceedings of the British Academy: Themed volumes of essays in the humanities and social sciences 2025)

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.