What is rehabilitation? Rehabilitation addresses the problems that led the youth to commit the crime, so that he or she does not commit further offences.
What is reintegration? Reintegration deals with the issue of how the youth can fit back into his or her community. What role do parents and victims play? Parents and victims are important. The previous principles focused heavily on the youth, but now the principles also focus equally on protecting the public. The changes also provide more structure to ensure that youth are dealt with in similar ways for similar offences across Canada. The report was written about a Nova Scotia case in which a 16 year old with no criminal record but with a pattern of stealing cars, ran a red light in a stolen vehicle and killed a woman in the intersection.
The report asks the question: How could this have happened? Learn more about youth records. You may have heard that a youth record is erased or closed when you turn This is not always true.
Here are some examples of how long your youth record will be open to police, courts, and the others listed in the YCJA.
If you need legal advice consult a lawyer. Search form Search. Look up any legal term in our handy legal dictionary. Young Offenders. What is the Youth Criminal Justice Act? What is the purpose of the Act? What happens in court? Youth Sentencing Judges apply special rules when sentencing youth. Will the youth go to jail? A youth cannot be sent to jail unless: He or she committed a violent crime The crime, if committed by an adult, could result in a sentence over 2 years, and the youth has developed a pattern of committing offences The youth did not obey other sentences that he or she served in the community In exceptional cases where the youth has committed a serious offence and the judge thinks that for whatever reason a jail sentence is necessary to rehabilitate the youth or protect the public A judge must always give a reason for sending a youth to jail.
Youth Records A youth record is any document that connects a youth to a criminal case under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
How long does a youth record last? If you are found guilty and your sentence is an absolute discharge — for one year after you are found guilty If you are found guilty and your sentence is a conditional discharge —three year after you are found guilty If you are found guilty of a summary conviction offence less serious offences and get a sentence other than an absolute or conditional discharge — for three years after your sentence is completed If you are found guilty of an indictable offence conviction more serious offences and get a sentence other than an absolute or conditional discharge — for five years after your sentence is completed If you commit other crimes after you have received a youth record, your record for the earlier crimes will stay open longer.
If you commit other crimes when your during the access period and are over 18, your youth record becomes part of your adult record. This will be a permanent criminal record and may be publicly accessible. Was this helpful? They must be notified of the actions taken against their children and given the opportunity to speak to justice officials. At court hearings, such as sentencing , they are encouraged to support and help their children make positive changes.
Victims - The Youth Criminal Justice Act states victims should be treated with courtesy, compassion and respect for their dignity and privacy and should suffer the minimum degree of inconvenience as a result of their involvement with the youth criminal justice system.
Victims should be provided with information about the proceedings and given an opportunity to participate and be heard. Comments will be sent to 'servicebc gov. Enter your email address if you would like a reply:. The information on this form is collected under the authority of Sections 26 c and 27 1 c of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to help us assess and respond to your enquiry.
Questions about the collection of information can be directed to the Manager of Corporate Web , Government Digital Experience Division. I consent. Skip to main content Skip to main navigation Skip to side navigation Accessibility Statement. The YCJA authorizes and encourages the convening of conferences to assist decision makers in the youth justice system. Under the legislation, a conference is defined as a group of people brought together to give advice to a police officer, judge, justice of the peace, prosecutor, provincial director or youth worker who is required to make a decision under the YCJA.
A conference can give advice on decisions such as:. A conference can be composed of a variety of people depending on the situation. It can include the parents of the young person, the victim, others who are familiar with the young person and his or her neighbourhood, and community agencies or professionals with a particular expertise that is needed for a decision. A conference under the YCJA is not a decision-making body. It provides advice or recommendations to a decision maker, such as a judge or a prosecutor.
The recommendations can be accepted by the decision maker only if they are consistent with the YCJA. Prior to the YCJA , there was considerable evidence that pre-trial detention was being over-used. In particular, large numbers of youths who were charged with relatively minor offences were being detained. Youths were often detained on charges for which adults were not detained. Most of the provisions related to pre-trial detention under the YOA were not changed with the coming into force of the YCJA , including the application of the Criminal Code.
However, in response to concerns that pre-trial detention was being over-used, the YCJA , when passed by Parliament, included the following changes: Pre-trial detention is not to be used as a substitute for child protection, mental health or other social measures. The objective of the amendments was to reduce complexity in order to facilitate effective decision-making at the pre-trial stage, which includes managing youth in the community where possible, while at the same time ensuring that youth who should be detained can be detained.
Rather than applying the grounds for detention in the Criminal Code to youth, the amendments created a new stand-alone test for pre-trial detention of youth in the YCJA. Now a court may detain a youth if the following criteria are met:. In , the average daily number of youths in remand was 15 percent higher than in see Figure 3. Six of the 10 provinces had a higher number of youths in remand in than in Comparisons of remand rates i.
Based on statistics from the 10 provinces, the overall remand rate increased from 3. Pre-trial detention under the YCJA is primarily used to detain youths charged with non-violent offences. The most serious offence charged in about 75 percent of admissions to detention is a non-violent offence. The most common offence leading to detention is an administration of justice offence, such as a breach of a bail condition.
Youth sentences were not required to be proportionate to the seriousness of the offence committed, and custody was often imposed as a sentence in less serious cases. Youth courts sometimes imposed very intrusive sentences on young persons who committed relatively minor offences in an effort to address psychological or social needs. The YCJA includes a specific purpose and set of principles to guide judges in deciding on a fair and appropriate youth sentence.
Under the YCJA , the purpose of youth sentences is to hold young persons accountable through just sanctions that ensure meaningful consequences for them and promote their rehabilitation and reintegration into society, thereby contributing to the long-term protection of the public. Proportionality is a basic principle of fairness that means less serious offences should result in less severe consequences and more serious offences should result in more severe consequences.
The YCJA is clear that rehabilitative measures intended to address problems that appear to have caused the young person to commit an offence must not result in a sentence that is not in proportion to the seriousness of the offence committed.
For example, a young person who has committed a relatively minor offence but has serious psychological needs that seem to have contributed to the behaviour should receive a sentence that reflects the seriousness of the offence and not the seriousness of the psychological needs. As passed by Parliament in , neither specific deterrence i. The YCJA also did not provide for the adult sentencing objective of denunciation. In , Parliament amended the YCJA to permit a youth sentence to include the objectives of denunciation and specific deterrence.
However, including these objectives must not result in a sentence that exceeds a proportionate response or is inconsistent with the purpose of sentencing and the mandatory sentencing principles mentioned above, such as choosing a sentence that is most likely to rehabilitate the young person. Under the YCJA , custody sentences are intended to be reserved primarily for violent offenders and serious repeat offenders.
As passed by Parliament in , the Act provided that a young person could not be sentenced to custody unless:. In , Parliament amended the YCJA by expanding the meaning of violent offence and pattern of findings of guilt. The meaning of a "pattern" was expanded to include extrajudicial sanctions.
This means that extrajudicial sanctions will be included with findings of guilt in determining whether the young person has a history that indicates a pattern of offences. Before the court can impose a custodial sentence, it must consider all reasonable alternatives to custody and determine that there is no reasonable alternative capable of holding the young person accountable in accordance with the purpose and principles of sentencing discussed above.
This means, for example, that although a young person has failed to comply with previous non-custodial sentences, he or she may receive another non-custodial sentence if the court determines that it would be adequate to hold the young person accountable.
Although the court must consider alternatives to custody for all offenders, particular attention must be given to the circumstances of young Aboriginal offenders. In general, the sentencing options that were available to the court under the YOA , such as probation or community service, were retained in the YCJA.
However, the YCJA contains significant improvements regarding youth sentencing options. The YCJA replaced the usual custody order with a custody and supervision order. This sentence is composed of a portion in custody and a portion in the community.
The YCJA also introduced a number of new sentencing options that allow youth court judges to deal with the full range of youth crime:. The federal government provides special funding for the provinces and territories to ensure that this intensive rehabilitative sentencing option is available throughout the country.
The number of custody sentences dropped by 64 percent between and see Figure 5. All provinces had significant decreases, ranging from 48 percent to 79 percent. The percentage of guilty cases resulting in custody sentences also dropped from 27 percent in to 15 percent in see Figure 6.
While more than one in four guilty cases resulted in custody in the last year of the YOA , only one in about seven guilty cases did so in The percentage of guilty cases resulting in custody also dropped significantly in all provinces and territories. More than half of all custody sentences have been imposed in cases involving relatively less serious offences such as theft, possession of stolen property, mischief, common assault in which no bodily harm was caused and administration of justice offences.
After a significant decline in , the youth incarceration rate has been stable. If the young person was convicted in adult court, the court imposed an adult sentence.
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