Ycj In Canada

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How the courts manage young offenders has changed drastically over time. Partly because of the development of the rights of a child and also due to changes in the justice system as a whole. From 1908-2003 there were three different acts legislated to protect young offenders. As time went on, laws that were applicable in 1908 ended up being not as applicable for the early 1980’s. As society progressed the need for different laws did as well. I am going to discuss and give a brief background on the three acts Canada has had over the years to protect youth in the justice system.

According the Department of Justice, “the Juvenile Delinquents Act stated that every juvenile delinquent shall be treated, not as a criminal, but as a misdirected and misguided child”. However the law also stated that children over the age of 14 who are accused of committing an indictable offence, that being murder or treason, be tried in an ordinary court, not a youth court. The communication on this particular act is not clear. It would leave room for one to argue that if someone 13 committed an act of murder they to should be tried as an adult. The JDA faced countless amounts of criticism and was seen as the …show more content…

The YCJA is focused on rehabilitation and a decrease in the use of youth courts (Barnhorst 231:2004). “The Youth Criminal Justice Act encourages but does not mandate conferencing. Conferencing is a process that brings people together to give advice regarding a decision required following the commission of a harmful, illegal act by a young person” (Hillian, Reitsma-Street & Hackler 343:2004). There has been proven success from the YCJA, however there still appears to be provincial variations when it comes to the use of youth courts and crimes. “The YCJA has succeeded in significantly reducing the rates of use of courts and custody without increasing recorded youth crime” (Bala, Carrington & Roberts

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