...The consequences of the Youth Criminal Justice Act [YCJA] can be referred as too light. Since the YCJA has taken over, youth crime is slowly decreasing. The discipline of the YCJA may need to become harsher. The YCJA has evolved from the harsh Young Offenders Act [YOA]. Stats on youth crime suggest that the YCJA is helping to reduce the amount of young offenders. Some cases suggest that the YCJA is not being tough enough with what young offenders are being sentenced with. The study of the human brain suggest that youths don’t understand the consequences of the crimes that they are committing resulting in the need for them to know the consequences. Through cases and the study of the human brain the YCJA needs some aspects changed for the better of society. The evolution of the YCJA has been formed from many different acts. Each act consists of similarities and differences between them. Different acts are formed over time to satisfy the needs of punishment as the world develops. The YCJA is the newest act which consist of similarities and differences of the YOA. The main difference of the YCJA and the YOA was the severity of the penalty for the crime committed. The YOA “was a highly controversial statute. While conservative politicians criticized the law for being ‘‘soft on youth crime,’’’ (Pulis). Since the YOA was soft on youth punishment, youths were not too concerned if they broke the law. Youths would break the law get a slap on the wrist and move on to committing...
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...Is the Youth Criminal Justice fair and equitable? The Act is an important issue to the lives of Canadians, focusing on the youth in our communities. People have been questioning though, is the Act to easy on the youth, or easy to slip through the legal cracks? Other Individuals say that the YCJA is doing just fine, and that the children affected deserve mercy that the act provides. I believe that harsher punishments may be necessary, or else the youth will never learn. It seems that the youth get off too easy in many situations. There are young people who vandalize and steal, get off easy, then just repeat. Myself and other people have gotten sick of this. The youth can just get away with a slap on the wrist and continue wronging others. With harsher punishment and persistence the YCJA can change the youth in our communities. Yet some people don’t realize that not all problems are from the system, but the source, the parents or friends at school....
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...In 1908, a little girl of 15 or 16 was hanged for stealing in her town. Today, if someone is caught stealing, they would most likely be charged with a fine. This case of two polar opposite consequences has caused much controversy between Canadians. Should the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) be harsher on young offenders or should the government go back to imposing the Juvenile Delinquent Act instead? Not at all. Even if many people feel that the YCJA is too easy on youth, it is the best act passed so far for youth offenders. The YCJA is equitable to many youth offenders facing unique circumstances and youth are less likely to commit a crime or feel like they need to, if they get rehabilitated into society. Background checks are an important...
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...current technique and it is over a decade old, people are starting to wonder: is it really the most efficacious way of dealing with young offenders? 13 years ago, on April 1st, 2003 the YCJA came into effect. It deals with teenaged criminals from 12 to under 18 years of age. Yes, our current way works, but not extremely well; for the ages are not broad enough, the punishments offered are not resulting in the right message; the youth are not learning from their mistakes, and that results in them not being prepared for the future responsibility that awaits them in adulthood. At 12 years old, you could commit a crime at face at least some sort of punishment. But what if you are 10, 11, or younger? We need to have a way...
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...Criminal law in Australia is generally administered by individual jurisdictions in each state. Current studies have shown a rise in criminal crime over the period of 5 years from 2010. But how are juvenile offenders being accounted for in the Justice System? Similar to criminal law the state and territory governments are responsible for dealing with children and young people who are involved in crime. Although each state and territory has its own legislation, policies and practices, the general processes by which young people are charged and sentenced and the types of legal orders available to the courts are similar. However by the time youth are 17 and 18, most Australians are focused on finishing school and planning the next stage in their...
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...has been observed that there are numerous researches conducted on youth crime particularly in the United Kingdom which gave the emphasis on young individuals as offenders instead of victims of crime. Moreover, media reporting depicts young individuals as criminals rather than victims of crime, additional investigation accessible in this segment has pointed to the opposing. During the progression of the Youth Justice System in the UK, certain incidents were observed when it appeared that the reintegration of the offender was not of significance nonetheless rather their penalty. In addition, it has occupied extremely extended period for the Youth Justice System to influence its existing level these days and it was noticed that this has occupied...
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...day in America, an average of 7,500 youth are incarcerated in adult jails. This subject is given little attention by the public, despite the horrific consequences of being tried in an adult criminal justice system and incarceration in an adult jail. Youth who are placed in adult jails are at a greater risk of physical and sexual assault. I believe juveniles under the age of 18 should not be treated as adult criminals because placing youth in the adult criminal justice system puts their safety at risk, restricts their necessary education and crucial health development, and increases the likelihood of violence and re-offending. Placing youth in adult jails most likely result in inimical situations and it is extremely difficult to prevent these events from occurring. By housing young offenders in the same facilities as adult criminals they are presented as the easiest preys which result in physical and sexual assaults. For example, according to the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2005 and 2006,...
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...juvenile justice system. In an age where the phrase juvenile super predator is often heard in the federal congress and state legislatures, the deep-end adolescent offender is a particular threat to public acceptance of the mission and objectives of juvenile justice. It is little wonder, then, that legislation concerning transfer is a near-universal feature of the politics of juvenile justice. The traditionally stated purpose of judicial wavier is to permit individualization of the decision whether a particular person is capable of being rehabilitated in the juvenile system-the amenability decision Fagan & Zimring (2000). In addition, the judicial wavier procedure provides a safety value for the juvenile system to exclude children who commit offenses that are believed to require the imposition of sanction that are beyond the capacity of the juvenile system to provide. Some form of judicial wavier or a substitute safety value is necessary in order to preserve the juvenile justice system politically within the context of modern penological expectations. It is difficult empirically to evaluate the contemporary role of judicial wavier in the overall context of procedures intended to sort out which cases should be filed and processed in the juvenile system and which in the criminal Fagan & Zimring (2000). While the general accounting office estimated that in most prosecutorial offices, judicial wavier accounted for a higher percentage of juveniles arriving in criminal court than...
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...When an adolescent commits a crime, should that make them an adult in the eyes of the law? Or should their age be considered and acknowledged as a shortcoming of a undeveloped mind, impacting their capacity for not fully comprehending their actions? These questions have plagued the juvenile justice system both in our current time and its history. The choice between harsh punishment or attentive rehabilitation as convictions for youth offenders I think the best choice is rehabilitation because it gives juveniles to another shot. Youth offenders are different from adult offenders biologically and this should pose a greater impact in the sentencing made on the adolescents in the juvenile justice system . Punitive punishment have...
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...An issue facing the criminal justice system today is more juvenile offenders. There are more and more juvenile offenders. Children are growing up so fast in today’s world that they are committing crimes at younger ages. This issue impacts the criminal justice system in a few ways. One the juvenile detention centers will get crowding with youth. The probation programs will also get crowded. Probation officer will be over worked because of so many cases. If the issue was magnified the juvenile justice system would only get more over worked then what it is now and more and more youth would slip through the cracks and not get the help that they need, and would most likely become repeat offenders and go into adult life committing crimes. The crime rates will rise and society would become even more fearful. I f the issue were to decrease the juvenile system would be able to help the juvenile offender more individually to help them get on the right path in their lives. We would be able to try to help more youth offenders get the help that they need to become better upstanding citizens. Society would become less fearful and more willing to help youth more, rather than considering them a lost cause when they do get into trouble. The personnel in the criminal justice system would have to work even harder because of a higher work load if the issue magnified. There would be more cases assigned to the personnel that they would not be able to commit the quality time to all cases, some...
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...Should the minimum age of criminal responsibility be raised? ‘Boys will be boys’, but at what age does this no longer apply? At what age is a boy expected to take on the responsibilities of a man? The Children and Young Persons Act 1963 (s.16) provides that ‘It shall be conclusively presumed that no child under the age of ten years can be guilty of an offence’. This means that once a child in the UK reaches the age of ten they are as exposed and liable to the full weight of the law the same as any adult. The UK currently has the lowest minimum age of criminal responsibility (except Scotland at 8 but cannot be prosecuted until 12) within the European Union. This places the UK significantly below the average of 14 years old. There seems to be little justification for this deviance from the norm in regards to the minimum age of responsibility in the UK and there have been considerable publications pushing for the UK to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility in the last decade, providing substantial evidence in favour of doing so. The evidence supporting the need to raise this minimum age can be found not only in psychology and scientific research regarding the brain development of youth and autonomy of children at this age, but also the severe social implications of criminalizing our youth. In order to argue that the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) should be raised it will be necessary to identify and evaluate this evidence, as well as identifying...
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...disparity and discrimination as they relate to the criminal justice system. The discussion will be supported with examples from law enforcement practices, court procedures, corrections populations. When you first look at discrimination and disparity one may believe they were similar but that is further from the truth. When people see a great number of blacks or Hispanics arrested for many drug related incidents it may seen discrimination had a lot to do with it whether it occur at the start of an arrest, during the justice procedure, or during the sentencing process. Although it seem very easy to come to that conclusion; it is vital that people have a receptive mine and look further for the reason of disparity instead of believing what they see from the exterior. The way to find out whether the case is disparity or discriminating is to investigate the whole case from the beginning to the end, and along with examination the population of that particular town. Maybe the truth will be revealed, do the justice system contribute or intentional discriminate or is it disparity without any form discrimination. The defining of disparity according to Schrantz and McElary (2000), racial disparity in the criminal justice system exists when the proportion of a racial/ethnic group within the control of the system is greater than the proportion of such groups in the general population. There are many cause of disparity in the criminal justice system such as legislative decisions, higher...
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...term. The role of a probation officer is to monitor the behaviours of offenders so that they cannot engage in any further criminal activity. This is done by setting up regular meetings with the offenders and their family members. They work with other agencies that are community based to try and help offenders with a range of services such as employment, housing, and so on. A young offender is a young person that has been convicted or cautioned for a criminal offence. The criminal justice system often deals with young offenders to adult offenders. The term young offender is applied to different age group depending on the age of criminal responsibility. In the United Kingdom there are three separate and distinct criminal justice systems; in England and Wales the age set for young offenders is 10 years and in Scotland the age for criminal responsibility is set at 12 (need citation). II. In a study conducted by Brookins and Hirsch (2002) entitled “Innocence Lost: Case Studies of Children in the Juvenile Justice System” the two talks about how the juvenile justice system is ineffective in working with young juveniles in helping them integrate with their families and communities based on reports. They pointed out the juvenile justice system lacks in providing information on the young offenders and family backgrounds as well as their efforts in engaging justice and social services to them over time. In addition, there seems to have a downward age trend in juvenile cases, the youngest...
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...believe should happen. Overview The Internet Article that I have chosen is from the Virginia's Department of Juvenile Justice. In this article, the Director of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) Mr. Andrew Block has proposed a $66 million plan to the Virginia legislators in the hope of building two new detention facilities that will focus more on rehabilitation, counseling, and various services. Mr. Block told legislative budget writers Monday that the new facilities that he plans to build will probably pay for themselves. Shortly, Mr. Block also stated that his $200 million operating budget will spare new annual cut which will help return shift resources to rebuild prevention and treatment program that has had substantial cut over the last ten years. In spite of some pushback from the legislative committee the vice chairman of the committee, Mr. Steve Landes admitted the plans sounded doable. Into furthermore better his case Mr. Brock bought statistic that showed why the DJJ wants to focus more on rehabilitation instead of the “Old sprawling and expensive” way like Bon Air and Beaumont detention center. According to the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), the statistic stated 59 percent of the children the States locks up reports physical abuse, 58 percent parent criminal activity, 46 percent parent incarceration and 31 percent parent substance abuse (Daily Press 2015). Reasons ...
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...Is the U.S. Criminal Justice System a true system? William H. Watson IV University of Maryland University College Is the U.S. Criminal Justice System a true system? The criminal justice system in the United States (U.S.) is not a true system; or at least not a true functioning system. A true system is a fine tuned process, where all participants involved work towards a common goal. Every transition in a true system, is a smooth change, where no participants in the system will do anything to jeopardize the proper functionality of the next process in that system. This is not the case of the U.S. criminal justice system. The U.S. criminal justice system is comprised of numerous individuals, groups, organizations, and agencies funded by both government and non-government sources. Because, the U.S. criminal justice system is funded from different entities, there are several different agendas being carried out. There are three major components to the administration of the U.S. criminal justice system: the police, the courts, and corrections. In a perfect criminal justice system the police would arrest violators of the law, the courts would prosecute all law violators, and corrections would punish and rehabilitate violators, to integrate them back into society. While this is the formula the U.S. criminal justice system governs itself by, reality shows us that this quite often this is not the case. Only ten percent of court cases ever go to trial, with almost...
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