Most adolescents believe they are mature and capable of making serious decisions and feel that they are capable of managing their emotions in serious and stressful situations. However, this thinking is a normal part of the teenage stage. The research provides evidence of important brain development in adolescents and highlights the inability of these young adults to understand all of their irrational and emotional actions. The maturing adolescent brain is biologically and therefore psychologically incapable of understanding the long-term consequences of committing serious crimes. Although the basic concept of decision making may seem simple to most, several factors influence how the brain processes emotions into rational actions. First, the environment influences a young adult's view of what is acceptable in society for handling difficult and controversial situations. Rolf E. Muuss explains in his work Theories of Adolescence that "environmental influence stimulates, modifies and supports growth" (113) to underline that the atmosphere in which one finds oneself has a direct correlation with decision-making abilities. The environment and family structure in which one lives and is observed during the stages of development have permanent effects on the personality, decisions and future of that individual. While many adults may try to understand the thoughts behind an adolescent's irrational actions, few understand that biological age rarely corresponds to mental age in the adolescent stage of maturity. John E. Horrocks explains that “mental age is an index of the level of development of intellectual function that a child has reached at a given time” (443). The justice system should take into account the rate of brain development to see whether the education of offenders has a huge effect on the separation between biological age and mental age. In summary, Offer, Rabshin, and Offer describe how the work of “[researchers who have spent much of their professional lives studying disturbed adolescents highlight the importance of a period of turmoil through which all adolescents must pass to become adults mature" (181). Research has been conducted to distinguish the difference between legal age and mental age; Society's task is to bring this knowledge into legal situations to provide teenagers with fair trials. Works Cited Horrocks, John E. The Psychology of Adolescent. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1951.Muuss, Rolf E. Theories of Adolescence. New York: Random House, 1962.Offer, Daniel, Melvin Sabshin, and Judith L. Offer. The psychological world of the adolescent. New York: Basic Books, 1969.