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Youth Justice Court
The Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) replaced the Young Offenders Act (YOA) on April 1, 2003.
Young people between the ages of 12 to 18 years who are charged with committing a criminal offence will appear in youth court. Provincial Court judges sit as youth justice court judges and hold youth court in every city and circuit point in the province.
The youth criminal justice system is intended to:
- prevent crime by addressing the circumstances underlying a young person's offending behaviour,
- rehabilitate young persons who commit offences and reintegrate them into society, and
- ensure that a young person is subject to meaningful consequences for his or her offence
Principles of Youth Justice
The criminal justice system for young persons, because of their age and level of maturity, must be separate from the adult system. The Youth Criminal Justice Act recognizes the following principles:
- rehabilitation and reintegration,
- fair and proportionate accountability that is consistent with the greater dependency of young persons and their reduced level of maturity,
- enhanced procedural protection to ensure that young persons are treated fairly and that their rights, including their right to privacy, are protected,
- timely intervention that reinforces the link between the offending behaviour and its consequences, and
- the promptness and speed with which persons responsible for enforcing this act must act, given young persons' perception of time.
Within the limits of fair and proportionate accountability, the measures taken against young persons who commit offences should:
- reinforce respect for social values
- encourage the repair of harm done to victims of the community
- be meaningful for the individual young person given his or her needs and, where appropriate, involve the parents, the extended family, the community and social or other agencies in the young person's rehabilitation and reintegration, and
- respect gender, ethnic, cultural and linguistic differences and respond to the needs of aboriginal young persons and of young persons with special requirements;
Special considerations apply in respect of proceedings against young persons and, in particular:
- young persons have rights and freedoms in their own right, such as a right to be heard in the course of and to participate in the processes other than the decision to prosecute, that lead to decisions that affect them, and young persons have special guarantees of their rights and freedoms,
- victims should be treated with courtesy, compassion and respect for their dignity and privacy and should suffer the minimum degree of inconvenience as a result of their involvement with the youth criminal justice system,
- victims should be provided with information about the proceedings and given an opportunity to participate and be heard, and
- parents should be informed of measures or proceedings involving their children and encouraged to support them in addressing their offending behaviour.
A young person who pleads guilty or if found guilty after a trial could receive one or a combination of the following:
- a reprimand from the judge,
- be ordered to pay restitution to the victim,
- be ordered to do work in the community,
- be placed on probation with conditions, such as:
- reporting regularly to a probation officer,
- having a daily curfew,
- living at a place designated by a probation officer,
- taking such councelling and treatment as directed by a probation officer.
The Youth Court Judge also has the power to sentence a youth to a significant period of custody.
You may obtain more information about The Youth Criminal Justice Act by going to:
www.canada.justice.gc.ca/en/ps/yj/repository/index.html
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