The world today is not a pleasant place to live; every day there is a news story about some horrific act of violence that is brought on some poor innocent person. It makes sense that we would look to our judicial system to make these criminals stop committing these terrible acts. It appears that our judicial system is failing us. Most of the time, the said criminals are in the age group of 10 to 18; they are just young kids. These criminals do not see fit to quit doing these acts because the punishment for them is not stiff enough. They know that as an adult they would be unable to get away with this, but as a child living in Canada they are protected under the Young Offenders Act. The YOA has created a lot of controversy in not only this country, but in this province and this city. The act was developed to protect young perpetrators of crime from receiving the same treatment that adults receive. Is this a fair goal? Why should the criminals be protected? Their future victims certainly weren't being protected by the justice system when they let the criminal go free on previous charges. The government is obviously giving protection to the wrong party in this situation, and something has to be done to change this.
The surroundings in which these children come from are probably not the ideal family situation. Although some of the children may appear to be members of some of the community's elite families that does not ensure that their parents were attentive and helpful. In any case, the child should not be put back in their homes, but rather they should be counselled away from home in an attempt to repair any damage that was done at their previous home.
"Domestic disputes and criminal charges against Juveniles receive special treatments in courts that are conditioned to be more compassionate."#
The Young Offenders Act was passed in 1982. Its definition concluded that any child over the age of twelve and under the age of eighteen was to be protected against the laws that are subjected to adults. The new Act applied different procedural methods and less severe penalties to the young offenders. The YOA also encouraged different methods of punishment.
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