Young Offenders Act - 1984
The Young Offenders Act was created in order to refine the Juvenile Delinquents Act and remedy the issues associated with it. Some people believed that the previous act (the Juvenile Delinquents Act) was too harsh on youths, while others felt that it was not harsh enough, seeing as these were, after all, criminal offenders. Regardless, an issue that most-everyone could agree on was the vagueness of the act. The goal of the Young Offenders Act was to replace vague phrasing in order to ensure that all judges would be forced to interpret information, and enforce the law, with the same unprejudiced rulings. An example of changes that were made to ensure that all youths would be treated equally in the eyes of the law was the establishment of a minimum and maximum legal age for youth within court (Bala, Nicholas). Punishments, as a result of guidelines being instituted, resulted in much more impartial treatment for juvenile offenders, whereas previously judges could impose any punishment they wished (Juvenile Delinquents Act, 2013). Lastly it also worked to protect the rights of children, and furthermore, gave them additional rights due to their susceptibility as children (O’Malley, 2003).
The Young Offenders Act helped secure many of the rights children presently have today within courtrooms (The International Cooperation Group, 2004), and also strove to ensure that youths were only held accountable for legal criminal offences, rather than acts that were not part of the criminal code (Graham, 2006). The Juvenile Delinquents Act, due to its philosophical nature, was more concerned about the welfare of children and less so about the child’s legal rights. This resulted in many youths receiving biased treatment based on the interpretation of judges who were unskilled, and therefore unable to make the right decisions (Bala, Nicholas). Due to the structure of the Juvenile Delinquents act, many children were charged for acts that were that were not of criminal nature such as “sexually immorality”, in which girls were forcibly placed into juvenile correctional facilities and were denied their right to a lawyer (Juvenile Delinquents Act, 2013). Previous laws did not cohere with the charter of rights and freedoms, and had The Young Offenders Act not been in acted, teens would still be punished by the law for reasons unrelated to the criminal code, such as coming home past curfew, or loitering (Juvenile Delinquents Act, 2013). Today children can demand for a lawyer, and are judged solely on their actions in relation to the criminal court, and are tried on that rather than those in the past who were charged on the sole grounds that the judged deemed that punishment was “needed”. Present day court rooms, even for children, now cohere to the law and are based solely on the law. As a result of this act, the need for the government to act as parent guardians has been removed, and now simply works to enforce the law.
The Young Offenders Act helped secure many of the rights children presently have today within courtrooms (The International Cooperation Group, 2004), and also strove to ensure that youths were only held accountable for legal criminal offences, rather than acts that were not part of the criminal code (Graham, 2006). The Juvenile Delinquents Act, due to its philosophical nature, was more concerned about the welfare of children and less so about the child’s legal rights. This resulted in many youths receiving biased treatment based on the interpretation of judges who were unskilled, and therefore unable to make the right decisions (Bala, Nicholas). Due to the structure of the Juvenile Delinquents act, many children were charged for acts that were that were not of criminal nature such as “sexually immorality”, in which girls were forcibly placed into juvenile correctional facilities and were denied their right to a lawyer (Juvenile Delinquents Act, 2013). Previous laws did not cohere with the charter of rights and freedoms, and had The Young Offenders Act not been in acted, teens would still be punished by the law for reasons unrelated to the criminal code, such as coming home past curfew, or loitering (Juvenile Delinquents Act, 2013). Today children can demand for a lawyer, and are judged solely on their actions in relation to the criminal court, and are tried on that rather than those in the past who were charged on the sole grounds that the judged deemed that punishment was “needed”. Present day court rooms, even for children, now cohere to the law and are based solely on the law. As a result of this act, the need for the government to act as parent guardians has been removed, and now simply works to enforce the law.