The Young Offenders Act – The Truth? Essay, Research Paper

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.