scholarly journals The Role of Crime Victims under the Youth Criminal Justice Act

1969 ◽  
pp. 965 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kent Roach

The author analyzes the role of victim involvement in extrajudicial and judicial measures under the Youth Criminal Justice Act and the overall direction of victim involvement and its possible impact on the development of youth justice. Unlike the Young Offenders Act, victim concerns are specifically recognized throughout the Youth Criminal Justice Act. With respect to judicial measures, reparation should be interpreted broadly to include young offenders' genuine attempts to make good the harms they have caused. The concept of reparation should provide an equal opportunity to pay the costs of crime. With respect to extrajudicial measures, the role of victims is difficult to assess. Tlie author encourages greater utilization of family conferences, as this extrajudicial measure has enjoyed success in New Zealand in reducing youth imprisonment and producing significant levels of victim satisfaction. Victims may well play an increased role under the Youth Criminal Justice Act but the actual effect of both punitive and non-punitive forms of victim involvement will depend on how the new Act is administered.

1969 ◽  
pp. 1029
Author(s):  
Larry C. Wilson

The proper role of counsel in youth court has always been somewhat uncertain. Historically, there was resistance to the idea of active participation by counsel. This began to change with the introduction of the Young Offenders Act and the process continues with the Youth Criminal Justice Act Counsel are under a legislated and ethical duly to take instructions from their clients and advocate their behalf in the same fashion as with adult clients. However, the Youth Criminal Justice Act does not address two fundamental issues: I) who pays for the provision of legal services; and 2) from whom does counsel receive instructions. These unanswered questions, and the complex nature of the legislation, further complicate the role of counsel in youth court.


2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Verónica B. Piñero

Having explored the youth criminal legislation enacted by the Canadian federal government from the year 1857 to the year 2005, the author attempts to demonstrate that youth criminal intervention has moved from the notion of "child protection" to the notion of "protection of society." The significance of this theoretical shift is that, while the former sort of intervention is mostly concerned with the notions of "reintegration" and "inclusion", the latter is concerned with the notions of "deterrence" and "exclusion." For this study, the author first analyzes the societal factors that led Canadian parliamentarians to enact the Juvenile Delinquents Act (1908). In addition, she focuses on a specific amendment enacted in the year 1924 that "increased" the number of behaviors to be controlled through criminal law legislation. Second, the author discusses the circumstances that led parliamentarians to enact the Young Offenders Act (1982) and the Youth Criminal Justice Act (2002). Moreover, she examines an amendment enacted in the year 1995 that modified the declaration of principles of the Young Offenders Act by introducing the notion of "crime prevention." Finally, she analyzes a case law released in the year 2003 by the Quebec Court of Appeal, Québec v. Canada. This decision declared the unconstitutionality of some specific sections of Bill C-7 (current Youth Criminal Justice Act) that allow the disclosure of young offenders' private information and reverse the onus probandi for the imposition of adult sentences on young offenders. The position of the author is that, even though those sections can be unconstitutional, they are coherent with current theoretical trends in the area of youth criminal law intervention.


1969 ◽  
pp. 395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian V. Roberts ◽  
Nicholas Bala

The authors provide an analysis of the complicated sentencing regime found in Canada's Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) and compare the new Act to the previous Young Offenders Act In comparison to the provisions of the Criminal Code that govern adult sentencing, the YCJA makes no reference to deterrence, has more focus on rehabilitation, and calls for lesser penalties than for adults. The authors point out that proportionality is a key principle for both sentencing youths and adults, but the aggravating elements enumerated in the YCJA are not the same as those in the Criminal Code. They further note that situations in which youth custody may be used are limited and that judges are directed to treat custody as a last resort and consider all alternatives. The authors conclude that the YCJA facilitates a more uniform treatment of young offenders, though the courts will continue to exercise considerable discretion. While it is clear that the use of custodial sanctions will decrease even without more community resources, in some places the coming into force of the new Act was accompanied by increased community resources which will also affect sentencing practices. The article concludes with a survey of some of the first cases decided under the YCJA, which reveal that custodial sanctions were avoided and rehabilitative principles played a major role in sentencing decisions.


Semiotica ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (229) ◽  
pp. 173-191
Author(s):  
Tara Suri

AbstractThis paper considers Canada’s young offenders in the context from which they enter the youth criminal courtroom. To determine how youth criminal justice courts violate the Canadian Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA), this analysis relates said context to several phenomena, including legal linguistics, oral language competency, literacy, communicative competency, non-verbal communication, the physical structure of youth courtrooms, and legal translation (Government of Canada eds. 2018. Youth criminal justice act. Ottawa: Government of Canada.). As a result of the standards of procedural communication upheld by the Canadian criminal justice system, young people’s rights, including the right to be respected regardless of cultural, ethnic, or linguistic differences, the right to be heard and to participate in proceedings, the right to be sentenced meaningfully, the right to privacy, and the right to be tried in a timely manner are abused in the youth criminal courtroom. Although insufficient structures of procedural communication cause these issues and are beyond the control of counsel, defense counsel are often blamed for their effects. Legal professionals must make important adjustments such as altering the formal speech required in youth criminal courtrooms, employing legal professionals with the role of translating legal jargon to young people in the courtroom, and closing youth courtrooms off from the public to reduce the YCJA violations occurring in youth criminal justice court. These adjustments are ultimately the responsibility of the Canadian criminal justice system.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-152
Author(s):  
Nelufer Yesmen

The study focused on realizing the condition of crime victim and it is a tearing problem in Bangladesh. Police are the principal delegates of the criminal justice system local jurisdictions across the country face significant challenges in criminal justice. The particular sorts of crime and criminal justice problems that local governments face change extensively the nation over. To observe the nature of crime victimization in Bangladesh and try to find out the factors and their legal appreciations is the objectives of this study. In addition, secondary method and data is used for fulfillment of the study. There are some factors increase the visibility of victims i.e. role of media, the higher public profile etc. The victim is weak in relation to the offender – the ‘ideal victim’ is likely to be a female, sick, very old or very young and victim is blameless for what happened. Victims suffer from trauma resulted from the crime. Legal appreciation of victims’ right is, the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898, Section 545 (1 & 2) and section 546 recognized the right of compensation, but the opportunity was hardly available.  


2000 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Prenzler ◽  
Hennessey Hayes

This paper reports on implications for the management of police discretion arising from a Victim—Offender pilot project in Queensland, Australia. The pilot was conducted with juvenile offenders and was highly successful on a range of key outcomes related to restorative justice. However, the project suffered from very low referrals from police, and there were no referrals from the courts, partly because of magistrates' deference to police decisions. As a consequence, many crime victims and young offenders and their caregivers had no opportunity to benefit from reparation. On this basis, a recommendation was made to curtail police discretion severely by building into the case disposition process mandatory consultation regarding mediation with all victims and offenders. This posed a direct challenge to the traditional wide discretionary powers held by police in their gatekeeping role. This research was commissioned by the Queensland Department of Justice. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily those of the Department.


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