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The Young Offenders Act - The Truth?
This essay was written to show the advantages and disadvantages of the
Young Offenders Act over the previous Juvenile Delinquents Act. Also it
should give a theoretical understanding of the current Canadian Juvenile-
Justice system, the act and it's implications and the effects of the young
offenders needs and mental health on the outcome of the trials.
In the interest of society the young offenders act was brought forth
on april second 1984. This act was created to ensure the rights and the
needs of a young person. Alan W. Leshied says "On one hand the justice and
legal objectives of the act are being effectively realized while on the
other hand the needs and treatment aspects of it leave much to be desired."
The research of the Young offenders act is still ongoing but Leshied says
that it is becoming clear that the custody positions have been in dispute
since the act came into effect. The old Juvenile delinquency act states in
section 38 "The care and custody and discipline of a juvenile delinquent
shall approximate as nearly as maybe that which should be given by his
parents, and... as far as practability every juvenile delinquent shall be
treated, not as a criminal, but as a misguided and misdirected child . . .
needing aid, encouragement, help and assistance."(Page 72)
If a youth is close to the adult age of 18 years they could be
transfered to the adult justice system. This means that they would be
given the same sentences as an adult including and up to life in prison.
Many people have tried to correct this problem that they see as a weakness.
Yet, so far their attempts have failed. Another weakness they find, is that
the courts are expensive and unsatisfactory methods of dealing with crime
that is not very serious.
Before the fabrication of legal aid most young offenders were not able
to obtain legal services. "Subsection 11 (4) provides that, were a young
person wishes to obtain counsel but is not able to do so, the youth-court
judge shall refer the young person to the provincial legal-aid, or
assistance program. If no such program is available or the young person is
unable to obtain counsel through an available program, the youth court
judge may, and on the request of the young person shall direct the young
person to be represented by counsel."
To establish a relationship between the young offender and the lawyer,
thew lawyer must be able to receive instructions from his/her client.
Usually there is little difficulty either receiving or carrieing out the
instructions of his/her client. Special problems can arise when the client
is a young person.
The problems faced by this, is the young person may not be able to
communicate with counsel. While the lawyer and young person need not a
specific statement for the client as to a preferred outcome it should take
form of a general expression of the client's feelings or attitudes in the
major issues of the precedings the young person must be able to make
decisions that may hold significant repercussions.
Mental health of the young offender can also be a problem. Currently
this issue is not addressed in the Young Offenders Act, before the mental
health act can be enacted, extremely dangerous behaviour must be displayed.
Before the age of 16 they are sometimes placed in hospitals for a short
time under the authority of the legal guardians.
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