Despite the decrease in
Despite the decrease in
The Youth Criminal Justice Act is the law that governs Canada's youth justice system. It applies to youth who are at least 12 but under 18 years old, who are alleged to have committed criminal offences. In over a century of youth justice legislation in Canada, there have been three youth justice statutes: the Juvenile Delinquents Act (1908-1984), the Young Offenders Act (YOA) (1984-2003), and the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) (2003-present). A set of amendments to the YCJA was adopted by Parliament in 2012. The purpose of this document is to explain the background of the YCJA, to provide a summary of its main provisions and the rationale behind them, and to highlight the experience under the YCJA.…
The Child Protection System and the Juvenile Justice system are interaction agencies in the Juvenile Justice Victim System. The systems mission is to protect children and render justice to the victim. The objectives of the two systems primarily concerns are physical abuse, sex abuse the mistreatment of the child, assault, neglect, and emotional maltreatment. The enormous amount of crime against children goes undetected due to lack of reporting to authorities. If there is substantiated evidence than the authorities will remove the child from the home and into protective custody, this is considered serious intervention; foster care services provide temporary safe home for children. The court system operates on the assumption that…
The purpose of the Juvenile Justice Act 1992 is to establish a code for dealing with youth offenders under the age of 17. The Act regulates the courts dealings with children who come in contact with the youth justice system. This includes police response, diversionary options of rehabilitation against detention, multiple sentencing options, operation of detention centres and recognition of family and community with particular reference to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities. A review of the former Juvenile Justice Act 1992 commenced in May 2007. This review was an assessment of legislation to ensure it is providing the best practice youth justice system that has the capacity to adequately respond to demands and challenges of today’s…
(The appeal under 28.U.S.C. 1257 (2) judgment from the Supreme court of Arizona affirming the dismissal of petition. The petition sought for the release of 15 years old Gerald Francis Gault.) Gault had been committed as a juvenile delinquent by the state of Gila County, Arizona. The dismissal came forth because the alleged denial of procedural due process rights to juveniles and various arguments against the constitutional juvenile code of Arizona.…
Today, crime is an almost impossible thing to get rid of in our society. Every week we turn the TV on and see on the news of someone getting murdered, robbed, or hurt. But the way we punish these “criminals” depends on the circumstances of the offender. For example the way we punish adult criminals is not same way we punish youth criminals. Adults will always get punished harshly compared to youth when accused of a crime and the reason why is because of the youth criminal justice act (YCJA). The YCJA are the law that governs Canada 's youth criminals. It applies to youth who are at least 12 but fewer than 18 years old and the objectives of the youth justice system are crime prevention, rehabilitation and reintegration, and meaningful consequences. I think that the YCJA is fair and equitable in addressing youth crime in Canada because they give kids second chances and rehabilitate them so they can get back into society.…
<br>There is, however, debate over the need for change. Some say the current act is much too easy on youths and that they're getting away with too much. There are reasons situations, such as these misinterpreted ones, have come about. The YOA was designed keeping youth protection in mind, and experts in the area tend to refer to the fact that " repeated studies have shown that it is not the severity of punishment which deters crime, but the certainty of it" (Daunt 1998 7). Therefore it is not surprising that thousands of good kids have been helped, and not hindered, by the current legislation on their way to a productive life (Good 1998 171). As well, the current YOA does have serious consequences for violent offenders, many of them ending up in adult court (Daunt 1998…
The Youth Criminal Justice Act is represented in all of the following sources, but only 2 of them agree with and support the YCJA. The other one does support them to a point, but are saying that the punishments are not harsh enough for youth. Going back to the sources, in the first one Graham Long is stating that the law is already hard enough on young people. In his case he has been to many court hearings and almost all the young offenders that he sees are not the first priority to the judge, the victim is. I don’t blame the judge for this, but if you are going to be dealing with a child that’s 12 – 14 or so, I think that you should have some feeling for them. An example that he describes is in Drayton Valley, Alberta where a youth offender was ordered to pay the victim $25,000. This is a bit too much for a teenager to be paying; most of them don’t even make that much in a couple years even if they have a job. The second source that I am looking at has a complete opposite view. They think that a lot of the young offenders that do go to prison get off to easy, with not enough punishment and that they will probably be a repeat offender. The third and last source is a line graph that shows the number of youths charged with crimes. This graph is showing that in the early 1990’s youth that were charged with offences went up from 8000 to 9000 in as little as 2 years. These numbers start to drop after 2003 when the YCJA was first introduced. It is proven by statistics that about 80% of first time youth offenders will not break the law again. These 3 sources of information are just a few of the many examples of the different views and opinions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. In my opinion I agree with the YCJA, in that youth should get punished for their actions depending on the age of the person. For example going back to source one, Graham Long is saying that kids don’t get off easy and that some punishments are a bit harsh. Giving a teenager a fine of…
Have YOU ever heard of Youth Court? The Niskayuna Youth Court is offered as an alternative to the young people who have committed a crime in our community, instead of the criminal justice system. The Niskayuna Youth Court is run by two favorites of the high school student body- Mr. Stroebel and business teacher Mrs. Lindsay. People go to Youth Court after they have pleaded guilty to a crime to appear before a jury of their peers. The student jury then hears the evidence, and makes a decision about sentencing. Usual sentences include community service, counseling, or restitution. All youth court members complete a multi-session law related education and training program, and then act as in various roles throughout cases they are assigned. Such…
Several broad observations and trends in Australian juvenile justice can be identified at the national level. Over the last ten years, there has been a decrease in the number of cases heard in Australian children’s courts due to the increasing trend of diverting juveniles during the early stages of processing. Such diversionary measures typically include conferencing, drug and alcohol courts and programs, juvenile justice teams and special courts and programs for young people. The most common types of offences for which juveniles are adjudicated in children’s courts include burglary or theft, assault and dangerous or negligent driving. Of all juvenile defendants who appeared in Australian children’s courts during the 2006-07 financial year, ninety-two percent received a criminal conviction and eighty-two percent pleaded guilty. Ninety-two percent of convicted juvenile offenders received non-custodial penalties such as fines, good behaviour bonds or community supervision orders. ‘How effective is the juvenile justice system?’ is a very difficult question to answer and will vary from person to person as some will be looking at the reduction in the crime rate will others will look at victim satisfaction. In Australia the Juvenile system I believe is quite effective as each state have their own specific way in tackling young offenders , that are relevant specifically to that state. The AIC has monitored juveniles in detention in Australia since 1981. It has found that the number of juvenile detainees per 100,000 head of population dropped from 64.9 in 1981 to 37 in…
The juvenile justice system process is rather new. The juvenile justice system really changed between 1966 and 1967; with kent vs United States and in re Gualt. Both added rights to the juvenile justice system that adults get. The evolution of the system sped up after those decisions. With eight very important Supreme Court decisions after 1967 till 2012. Each expanding the juvenile justice system.…
This program is a juvenile intervention agency. The goal is to treat, teach and invest in the lives of those who were incarcerated in previous years. These juveniles would have had to be between the ages of 13-17 years old. The mission is to advocate, empower, and transform lives one day at a time. So many times, those who are incarcerated are left to fend for themselves without any support system. But within this agency we’re here to give hope that a better journey is ahead. This is a non-profit organization that is applying to receive a grant that will used to help further our opportunity to serve those youth incarcerated.…
With holding youths accountable in a fair manner, it could make a great contribution to the protection of not only to the youths within society but also the adult citizens. The article youth criminal justice act: new directions and implementation issues (2004) explained that "it can make a contribution to the protection of the public in the long-term. Parliaments references to protection of the public indicate that such protection is a desired long-term outcome or result of the activities of the youth justice system". The article goes on further to explain that the emphasis of protection of youth crime can protect the citizens within society at a greater…
Currently, Australia’s primary answer to offending youth, for serious matters, is incarceration. However, across Australia many believe that the incarceration of youth is still the stem of the issue of recidivism, and therefore, the issue cannot be solved until the incarceration of youth is removed. Between 2011-12 approximately $640 million was spent on the youth justice system nationwide, and even with this much there the recidivism rates are anything but favourable. Approximately half of the juveniles appearing before a youth or children’s court will have been convicted previously, and approximately one-third of juveniles appearing…
At this point the Youth Criminal Justice Act has many components to it and has only been in place for four years. As a result it is unclear as to whether or not there are any unintended or latent consequences from its implementation. As of right now, the Act appears to be a success; however the outcome of the future will provide a more definite answer to its…
The amendments made to the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) in Bill C-10 were initially intended to help maintain and ensure the safety and security of Canadians using the get tough on crime approach (Bala, 2015). However, the Safe Streets and Communities Act is focused on making sure that the public feels more secure instead of being centered on the wellbeing of the youth involved in the criminal justice system which leads to a number of undesirable conclusions. This paper will address three main points. First, an argument on the evidence stating that the get tough on crime measures do not work; second a discussion on the importance of rehabilitation for youth; and thirdly an argument on the necessity for a spate legal system for youth from…