The Youth Criminal Justice Act is a law that governs Canada’s youth justice system. This law applies to the youths who are 12 but those under 18. This is for who alleged to have committed criminal offence. On April 1, 2003, The Youth Criminal Justice Act was begun and had replaced the previous legislation, the YOA (Youth Offenders Act) because the YOA was old and they needed new reinforcements on the youth for the crimes they commit. The youth are not being fully held for their crimes because the government believes that the youth are not as mature as the adults are and that the adult punishment is too harsh for them. The youth can learn other ways to fix their mistakes. Over the past 10 years, the law has protected the young offenders from the full force of the criminal justice system. The law believes that youth lack the maturity of adults and consequently therefore they should not be held fully responsible for their actions. With this act a lot of youths are not being held for their crimes because the government thinks that they are still young and that they are not mature enough like adults are. Since the youth criminal justice act has begun a lot of youth offenders are not being held for their crimes that they have committed. In 2000-2010 59% (Department of Justice) of the youths were not charged for their crimes and were left free but in 1999 when the Youth Offenders Act was still running about …show more content…
This shows that the Youth Offenders Act was better in giving punishments for their crimes. If the youth are not being held for their