Youth Criminal Justice Act

 “The Youth Criminal Justice Act” is a law that works with the Canadian youth justice system. The youth, who are from 12 to 18 years old, are alleged to have committed some criminal offences, which are included in this Act. In the history of Youth Justice Legislation, Canada has had three youth justice statuses. They are the Juvenile Delinquents Act (1908-1984), the Young Offenders Act (YOA) (1984-2003), and the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) (2003-present).

Some statistics from 2003 to 2010.

Source: (Government of Canada, Department of Justice, Electronic Communications, 2021)

From these statistics, we can see that taking on remand didn’t grow much as population and crime increased.

Source: (Government of Canada, Department of Justice, Electronic Communications, 2021)

From the above graph, we can see fewer people.

The Youth Criminal Justice Act brought positive results to society. The statistics or graphs in the presentation show that youth criminal activities have decreased after this act's establishment.

In the class discussion, A youth stakeholder mentioned that if we put youth in jail, they will get in contact with adult criminals and will be influenced by them. Then, they might get involved with more crime when they come out.

Another stakeholder from a community worker raised an issue and mentioned that children under 18 shouldn’t be treated like adult criminals. It will be harmful to their physical and mental health.

So, I support the “Youth Criminal Justice Act”. However, we have plenty of room to improve this act. At the beginning of its name, it calls the Youth a Criminal. Youth should never be called criminals. They are young, and they might make mistakes that can be improved.

In this Act, the police have a major role. They are the ones who decide which youth is doing criminal activities and needs to be arrested. Sometimes, police are biased toward black and indigenous people. Socially, a significant number of these two racial groups are in poverty, less educated, school dropouts, unemployed, homeless, and in unhealthy living status. In this case, to survive, they might do less harmful illegal work like shoplifting, selling illegal items, etc. And police arrested them as a criminal. When they get out of the police, they are already known as a criminal who can’t get a good job and live in poverty. So, they might try to earn again by an illegal job. Because of their race, they got targeted easily and got caught by the police. That’s why, in criminal records, the black and Indigenous youth have the majority. As many returned to criminal work again, statistics show different results. Maybe that’s why Manitoba statistics are showing that 80% of youth went back to criminal work after they first got caught by the police in the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

For proof, we can say when cannabis became legal, we saw the line who are buying it is mostly youth. However, people believe that drug problems are in Black and Indigenous people mostly.

I think, with this act, we should involve Community Services to support them in getting out of poverty, getting an education or training, getting a job, and starting any good business, as well as mental health support. We need to listen to them and what they want. Youth have a voice, and they understand their problems, too.

The guidance is mentioned in the YCJA, as well as both a Preamble and a Declaration of Principle that applies throughout the Act. But in real life, we can see we need more actions.

References:

Government of Canada, D. of J. (2021, July 7). The Youth Criminal Justice Act Summary and background. Government of Canada, Department of Justice, Electronic Communications. https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/cj-jp/yj-jj/tools-outils/back-hist.html