Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA)

In response to the concerns of having one of the highest youth incarceration rates in the world in the late 1990s, Canada introduced the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) to counteract the high incarceration rates and to put an emphasis on extra-judicial measures (EJMs) to deter youth from the criminal justice system. While the YCJA has shown success, and to have strike a balance that the Act’s predecessors were lacking, it still has underlying issues. Youth whom are most vulnerable, such as those with mental illness, homeless, abused or in poverty are most susceptible to getting involved in the youth criminal system. According to the More Less Court report by the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate, the province of New Brunswick has been

The YCJA was said to solve the political need striking a balance between two contradicting objectives, protecting society from predatory youth, and the desire to avoid unnecessarily criminalizing minor offenders (Tanner, 2012). To accomplish these objectives the Act would follow the principles of accountability and proportionality, youth who commit serious or violent crimes will be punished as harshly as they should be, and minor offenses will be dealt with diversionary measures, such as EJMs (“Emergence of Juvenile Justice Systems”, March 15, 2017). For instance, EJMs that were commonly used included, police and Crown issued warnings, referrals to community programs, counselling, and educational programs, these measures are to avoid needlessly criminalizing youth who have only committed minor

A clear majority of vulnerable youth find themselves jostled around in the youth criminal justice system, this includes youth whom are homeless, impoverished, suffer from abuse, or have mental illnesses, among other factors (Office of the Child and Youth Advocate, 2015). Furthermore, in New Brunswick where police and courts are provincially run, the practice of EJMs is very inconsistent, therefore it is up to where the youths live if the measures are to their advantage or not (Office of the Child and Youth Advocate, 2015). Therefore, the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate suggest more consistent practices and protocols are needed to ensure the proper use of these measures