Child Safety Legislation

A child is a person who has not reached the age of majority or the age at which a person attains full legal rights. In the United States, this is also the age of capacity defined by statute as 18 years for legally being able to agree to a contract, 16 years for agreeing to marriage, and 14 years for knowing right from wrong. Safety implies freedom from danger, damage, injury, or harm. Safety is security. Legislation refers to an enacted body of laws. Legislation may create agencies and competent authorities that administer regulations pertaining to the law. Regulations are rules that have the force of law. Child safety legislation includes any law or regulation created to protect a child from danger or harm.

Child safety legislation encompasses the categories of health, medicine, and physical safety; family and education; employment; and exploitation. According to human rights advocates, children's status as human beings automatically entitles them to all human rights, including safety. The business legislation on child safety is generally a part of regulations established for the protection of larger classes of people such as workers, consumers, and citizens.

In the United States, child safety regulation is often initiated by public interest groups. Public interest groups lobby in favor of safety regulations in the administrative processes of government agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC). This type of activity resulted in the establishment of product safety standards in child restraint systems, bans on children's jewelry containing lead, and multiple voluntary recalls of products.

Because of their physical and mental immaturity, children are seen as members of a dependent group that needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection before as well as after birth. However, since the beginning of the 20th century, society's principal concern has been with the physical protection and security instead of the recognition or guarantee of rights. Rather than using a basis of equality, rights here are based on the concept that children are significantly different from adults. They are vulnerable, at risk, and require nurturing and special protection from the adult world. This calls for extra measures from society in law and in practice.