The Intricacies of Youth Criminal Justice Act

                                                                                         

The first document regulating the youth criminal justice predecessor to the Young Offenders Act (adapted in 1982) and the modern day Youth Criminal Justice Act (accepted in 2003) was the 1908 Juvenile Delinquents Act.

The Youth Criminal Justice Act covers the prosecution of youth's for criminal offenses. The Criminal Code of Canada defines that no person shall be convicted of an offence in respect of an act or omission on his or her part while that person was under the age of twelve years, so the YCJA works only for people older than 12 and younger that 18. As for trial procedures like arrest, detention, bail, trial and sentencing, they are not very different from the adult procedures. Parents of the arrested minor must be notified immediately or as soon as possible. They are also encouraged to participate in all steps of the legal process. In some cases the judge may even order the parents to attend the court hearings. Also a youth has the right to have his or her parent(s) or guardian(s) present during questioning. Fingerprinting and photographing can occur only when the youth is charged with an indictable offense. As for bail the youths are usually released under the same rules but into the custody of parents or other responsible adults. The YCJA protects the identity of the youth and it can only be disclosed under special circumstances. Still the public and media are allowed to attend the trials of the youths and proceedings may be reported. For the benefit of the publics safety the names and even photos of serious offenders can be reported in the media. As for sentencing the adult sentences can be applied to offenders over the age of 14 or to offenders over the age of 12 if the offences are repeated.

The Youth Criminal Justice Act is still a young document and like all the other acts needs to be changed according to various difficult real life cases and examples. The Nunn Commission of Inquiry that occurred in 2006 was the first landmark public inquiry that brought big changes to the Canada's youth criminal justice system. In that inquiry Merlin Nunn, a retired Justice of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, was the chairman of the commission that examined events of October 14th, 2004. On that day Theresa McEvoy, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, a 52 year old teacher's aide and mother of three boys was killed in a car crash caused by another vehicle. The driver of this, by the way, stolen vehicle was a young serial offender that was mistakenly released from jail just two days previously. The 16-year old criminal had 38 criminal charges pending against him and somehow he managed to be released. During the 31 days of testimony, Commissioner Nunn heard from 47 witnesses, including the families of the principals, policing agencies, Government and court officials, educational officials, and the legal establishment. On December 5th, 2006 the commission made the final report that held 34 recommendations in the areas of youth justice administration and accountability, youth crime legislation, and prevention of youth crime.

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