Youth Crime

The world today is not a pleasant place to live; every day there is a news story about some horrific act of violence that is brought on some poor innocent person. It makes sense that we would look to our judicial system to make these criminals stop committing these terrible acts. It appears that our judicial system is failing us. Most of the time, the said criminals are in the age group of 10 to 18; they are just young kids. These criminals do not see fit to quit doing these acts because the punishment for them is not stiff enough. They know that as an adult they would be unable to get away with this, but as a child living in Canada they are protected under the Young Offenders Act. The YOA has created a lot of controversy in not only this country, but in this province and this city. The act was developed to protect young perpetrators of crime from receiving the same treatment that adults receive. Is this a fair goal? Why should the criminals be protected? Their future victims certainly weren’t being protected by the justice system when they let the criminal go free on previous charges. The government is obviously giving protection to the wrong party in this situation, and something has to be done to change this.

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“A jury would consider first, whether the child would be guilty regardless of age, that is, finding that the child intentionally committed a criminal act and whether they were aware they were doing something wrong. In any case, the child should not be put back in their homes, but rather they should be counselled away from home in an attempt to repair any damage that was done at their previous home. Moreover, “…so long as the child is able to distinguish right from wrong, he should be considered technically responsible for his actions.

“New child welfare laws may be needed, or existing laws may have to be altered to meet concerns about the handling of these groups of young people. ”#

In the wake of horrific school shootings all across North America, the closest being in Taber, Alberta, I believe that the Young Offenders Act is over-protective of these young criminals. ) #

Under the Juvenile Delinquents Act, the offender was put into a government run home. At least two youth court judges created a ‘conditional discharge’ disposition.

“One of the fundamental differences between the adult system and the youth court is the sentencing process, or as it ii called in the case of young offenders, the disposition process. Our society tries so hard to convince itself that we believe in God’s word of ‘All mean are created equal’, but then we must show it. If there is to be a bright future in store for everyone, then we have to condition our youth to begin taking more responsibility for his or her actions. The YOA also encouraged different methods of punishment. “Partly in response to this issue, many of the provinces introduced some changes in implementing legislation without the Federal Canadian Government changing the Juvenile Delinquent Act itself. Rather they should use the offender’s level of competency to determine which court they should be tried in. ”#

The phrase ‘Today’s youth are tomorrow’s leaders’ may be a cliché, but it is true. ”#

The courts study the offenders past and they take this into consideration with the crime.

Approximate Word count = 1607
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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