Erika RadisOwner at Working Moms of San Antonio

In Texas, a 17-yr old is legally considered an adult in the criminal justice system

16 Jul 2026 · 1 min

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1:02

Texas treats 17-year-olds as adults in criminal court, despite brain development continuing until age 25. The speakers worry about sending teenagers to adult prison and question whether a 17-year-old should face adult consequences for crimes.

That's crazy to be 17 years old and to be considered an adult legally. Yes. You know, for some of these things, it's, that's bananas.
In my head I'm like, hey, do your stuff now. I can help. I can, you know, be part of it. But no, I mean, 17, if they make a mistake that, you know, or I don't know.
Yeah. No, I, I def— I mean, that's a story for another day. Yeah. But I definitely do disagree with that because, you know, brains don't develop until like, I think it's 25. And there's so many other things you really can't do at 17. But yes, for purposes of the law, if your child were to get in trouble, And they were, you know, 17. They would be, you know, going to the adult court process.