What is the Youth Criminal Justice Act?

The Youth Criminal Justice Act was created to govern the youth of Canada. The act applies to any minors who have reached the age of 12, but have not yet reached adulthood at the age of 18. The act governs the way these children are treated in the criminal justice system, and it seeks to find balance in the dispensation of punishments and convictions.

The Youth Criminal Justice Act has been in effect since 2003. In 2012, the act received a series of amendments. Before the Youth Criminal Justice Act, the Young Offenders Act governed the youth justice system of Canada from 1984 to 2003. Before that, we had the Juvenile Delinquents Act from 1908 to 1984.

The Youth Criminal Justice Act was introduced to correct several problems with its predecessor law, the Young Offenders Act. According to the drafters of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, under the Young Offenders Act, children were being subjected to incarceration too frequently and in cases that were not serious enough. In addition, the court system was being overused. Unfairness and disparity in sentencing was also found to be a problem under the previous legislation, and the court was not sufficiently taking into account the best interests of victims. Furthermore, it was reported that children were not being reintegrated into society effectively after they were released from custody.

In answer to these problems, the Youth Criminal Justice Act provides a specialized legislative framework designed to instill more fairness and effectiveness into Canada's youth justice system. Furthermore, the additional amendments added by Parliament in 2012 have the goal of improving how the system handles violent and repeat youth offenders.

Any young person who is accused of a crime in Canada will have the same right to a fair trial as an adult does. Furthermore, accused children will remain innocent of their alleged crimes until -- and only if -- they are proved to be guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court. Until such a conviction takes place, accused minors will have every opportunity to defend themselves against their charges.

Source: Department of Justice, "The Youth Criminal Justice Act Summary and Background," Accessed Sept. 11, 2015