The YCJA treats youth different from adults because of:. The YCJA requires that youths be treated separately from adults and that it be recognized that youths have diminished moral blameworthiness. When dealing with youth, there must be an emphasis on:. What are "meaningful consequences? Measures to deal with youth crime should:. What rights and freedoms do youth have? Youth have due process rights, including the right to be heard and participate in decisions that affect them.
They also have the rights and freedoms under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Are there any special considerations in respect of proceedings under the YCJA? What is rehabilitation? Rehabilitation addresses the problems that led the youth to commit the crime, so that he or she does not commit further offences.
What is reintegration? Reintegration deals with the issue of how the youth can fit back into his or her community. What role do parents and victims play? The YCJA also sets out clear objectives to guide the use of extrajudicial measures, including repairing the harm caused to the victim and the community; providing an opportunity for victims to participate in decisions; ensuring that the measures are proportionate to the seriousness of the offence; and encouraging the involvement of families, victims and other members of the community.
The YCJA requires police officers to consider the use of extrajudicial measures before deciding to charge a young person. Police and prosecutors are specifically authorized to use various types of extrajudicial measures:.
Under the YOA in , 63 percent of youths accused of a crime were charged and 37 percent were not charged. Under the YCJA in , 42 percent of youths accused of a crime were charged and 58 percent were not charged see Figure 1. The number of accused young persons who were charged includes those who were recommended for charging by police in provinces in which the prosecutor makes the decision on charging. Young persons who were not charged include youths diverted from the court process through the use of warnings, referrals to community programs, cautions and pre-charge extrajudicial sanctions.
This change in police behaviour occurred without evidence of net-widening; in other words, the evidence does not suggest an increase in the number of young persons drawn into the system and subjected to informal measures, but rather an increase in the use of informal measures as an alternative to laying charges. There has also been a significant reduction in the use of the court under the YCJA. Youth court cases declined by 26 percent between and see Figure 2. After a large initial drop, the number of youth court cases has remained relatively stable.
There have been declines in court cases in all provinces and territories, with declines of more than 20 percent in seven jurisdictions. Court cases have declined significantly in all major offence categories. Despite the significant reduction in the number of court cases, most cases still involve offences that are relatively "less serious. Figure 1: Accused Youths: Charged v. Not Charged - and Prior to the YCJA , the use of conferences was increasing in many parts of Canada in order to assist in the making of decisions regarding young persons who were involved in the youth justice system.
In general, a conference refers to various types of processes in which affected or interested parties come together to formulate plans to address the circumstances involved in individual youth cases. Conferences operated without legislative authority and in an informal manner. Conferences can take the form of family group conferencing, youth justice committees, community accountability panels, sentencing circles and inter-agency case conferences.
Conferences provide an opportunity for a wide range of perspectives on a case, more creative solutions, better coordination of services and increased involvement of the victim and other community members in the youth justice system.
The YCJA authorizes and encourages the convening of conferences to assist decision makers in the youth justice system. Under the legislation, a conference is defined as a group of people brought together to give advice to a police officer, judge, justice of the peace, prosecutor, provincial director or youth worker who is required to make a decision under the YCJA.
A conference can give advice on decisions such as:. A conference can be composed of a variety of people depending on the situation. It can include the parents of the young person, the victim, others who are familiar with the young person and his or her neighbourhood, and community agencies or professionals with a particular expertise that is needed for a decision.
A conference under the YCJA is not a decision-making body. It provides advice or recommendations to a decision maker, such as a judge or a prosecutor. The recommendations can be accepted by the decision maker only if they are consistent with the YCJA. Prior to the YCJA , there was considerable evidence that pre-trial detention was being over-used. In particular, large numbers of youths who were charged with relatively minor offences were being detained.
Youths were often detained on charges for which adults were not detained. Most of the provisions related to pre-trial detention under the YOA were not changed with the coming into force of the YCJA , including the application of the Criminal Code. However, in response to concerns that pre-trial detention was being over-used, the YCJA , when passed by Parliament, included the following changes: Pre-trial detention is not to be used as a substitute for child protection, mental health or other social measures.
The objective of the amendments was to reduce complexity in order to facilitate effective decision-making at the pre-trial stage, which includes managing youth in the community where possible, while at the same time ensuring that youth who should be detained can be detained.
Rather than applying the grounds for detention in the Criminal Code to youth, the amendments created a new stand-alone test for pre-trial detention of youth in the YCJA.
Now a court may detain a youth if the following criteria are met:. In , the average daily number of youths in remand was 15 percent higher than in see Figure 3. Six of the 10 provinces had a higher number of youths in remand in than in Comparisons of remand rates i.
Based on statistics from the 10 provinces, the overall remand rate increased from 3. Pre-trial detention under the YCJA is primarily used to detain youths charged with non-violent offences. The most serious offence charged in about 75 percent of admissions to detention is a non-violent offence.
The most common offence leading to detention is an administration of justice offence, such as a breach of a bail condition. Youth sentences were not required to be proportionate to the seriousness of the offence committed, and custody was often imposed as a sentence in less serious cases. Youth courts sometimes imposed very intrusive sentences on young persons who committed relatively minor offences in an effort to address psychological or social needs.
The YCJA includes a specific purpose and set of principles to guide judges in deciding on a fair and appropriate youth sentence. Under the YCJA , the purpose of youth sentences is to hold young persons accountable through just sanctions that ensure meaningful consequences for them and promote their rehabilitation and reintegration into society, thereby contributing to the long-term protection of the public.
Proportionality is a basic principle of fairness that means less serious offences should result in less severe consequences and more serious offences should result in more severe consequences.
The YCJA is clear that rehabilitative measures intended to address problems that appear to have caused the young person to commit an offence must not result in a sentence that is not in proportion to the seriousness of the offence committed. For example, a young person who has committed a relatively minor offence but has serious psychological needs that seem to have contributed to the behaviour should receive a sentence that reflects the seriousness of the offence and not the seriousness of the psychological needs.
As passed by Parliament in , neither specific deterrence i. The YCJA also did not provide for the adult sentencing objective of denunciation. In , Parliament amended the YCJA to permit a youth sentence to include the objectives of denunciation and specific deterrence.
However, including these objectives must not result in a sentence that exceeds a proportionate response or is inconsistent with the purpose of sentencing and the mandatory sentencing principles mentioned above, such as choosing a sentence that is most likely to rehabilitate the young person.
Under the YCJA , custody sentences are intended to be reserved primarily for violent offenders and serious repeat offenders. As passed by Parliament in , the Act provided that a young person could not be sentenced to custody unless:.
In , Parliament amended the YCJA by expanding the meaning of violent offence and pattern of findings of guilt. The meaning of a "pattern" was expanded to include extrajudicial sanctions.
This means that extrajudicial sanctions will be included with findings of guilt in determining whether the young person has a history that indicates a pattern of offences. Before the court can impose a custodial sentence, it must consider all reasonable alternatives to custody and determine that there is no reasonable alternative capable of holding the young person accountable in accordance with the purpose and principles of sentencing discussed above.
This means, for example, that although a young person has failed to comply with previous non-custodial sentences, he or she may receive another non-custodial sentence if the court determines that it would be adequate to hold the young person accountable.
Although the court must consider alternatives to custody for all offenders, particular attention must be given to the circumstances of young Aboriginal offenders.
In general, the sentencing options that were available to the court under the YOA , such as probation or community service, were retained in the YCJA. However, the YCJA contains significant improvements regarding youth sentencing options.
The YCJA replaced the usual custody order with a custody and supervision order. This sentence is composed of a portion in custody and a portion in the community.
The YCJA also introduced a number of new sentencing options that allow youth court judges to deal with the full range of youth crime:. The federal government provides special funding for the provinces and territories to ensure that this intensive rehabilitative sentencing option is available throughout the country. The number of custody sentences dropped by 64 percent between and see Figure 5.
All provinces had significant decreases, ranging from 48 percent to 79 percent. The percentage of guilty cases resulting in custody sentences also dropped from 27 percent in to 15 percent in see Figure 6. While more than one in four guilty cases resulted in custody in the last year of the YOA , only one in about seven guilty cases did so in The percentage of guilty cases resulting in custody also dropped significantly in all provinces and territories. More than half of all custody sentences have been imposed in cases involving relatively less serious offences such as theft, possession of stolen property, mischief, common assault in which no bodily harm was caused and administration of justice offences.
A court can impose intensive rehabilitation where a young person has been convicted of a serious violent offence if the young person suffers from a mental illness or disorder, a psychological disorder or an emotional disturbance, if a treatment plan is believed to reduce the risk of a young person committing another serious violent offence and if a province has a program available and has determined that the program would be appropriate.
Generally, young persons who have been sentenced to a period of custody must be held separate from adults who are in custody. If a young person is 20 years old at the time of sentencing, then he or she must serve the period of custody in an adult facility. At the age of 18 a young person can be transferred to an adult facility.
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