Social Studies

 By: Josh, Daniel, Cindy, Fatawu,  and Patrick

What is the difference between youth justice and adult justice in Canada?

Criminal code of Canada

• This law defines the consequences adults for adults that breaks the law.

• For adults who break the law• if an adult breaks the law there name is allowed to be shown on tv• unlike youth justice, when adults get sentenced they get a criminal record

• If he is accused of committing a crime his name can be published.

Youth criminal justice act

• The youth criminal act is basically for youth who break the law. It was passed by parliament in 2003. canada has laws like the ycja Ycja- {youth criminal justice act{treat young offenders differently than adult offenders the. youth criminal justice act deals with teens from the ages of 12-17 in trouble with the law. it does not allow adult sentences for youth of the ages from 12-14 and it protects the privacy of young offenders from things like radio news anything that publicises them until they get an adult sentence. And they also prevent youngsters from getting a criminal record.

What Consequences do Young People Face When They Break the Law

•Young people are often charged with committing crimes but are not punished quite as severely as adults in the court of law•before the YCJA young offenders were prosecuted all with the same consequences as everyone else•the process for the youth that broke the law often goes to either of these two paths the police officer either charges the person, he doesn't or he give them a warning if he does not change them he may refer to a youth program to help a social worker or a community volunteer  the person complete program if they are charged they go through to court system including the court the judge  and a prosecutor, when all of that is done they are usually changed with one of the following: community services,counseling   Prison,a criminal record, or institution such as paying for damaged property •The maximum a child can be sentenced is 10 year for first degree murder

The YCJA (The Youth Criminal Justice Act)

• Q: Why does the YCJA establish a difference between young offenders and adult offenders?

• Adults have a different mentality compared to younger people, so they know more on the difference between what's right and what's wrong. Youth however, (at a certain age) still haven’t really matured as well as adults, so they have a difficult time with maturity levels

• Q: Why do you think every young person should know about the YCJA?• Everything about the YCJA is serious. If you destroy something, or hurt someone, you will have to face consequences. The Youth Criminal Justice Act proposes those consequences, and some of the ones they create can be a little harsh, so people should know what they will have to face if they commit a crime.

Deciphering the YCJA

• the ycja is for ages 12 to 17 that get in trouble with the law and they cant put them in jail with adults so they do community work              

• Like other areas of the criminal justice system, youth probation in Canada has historically been influenced by different political, social, cultural and philosophical principles embedded within the legislative frameworks of juvenile justice beginning with the Juvenile Delinquents Act 1908 (JDA), followed by the Young Offenders Act (YOA) (1984) and the current Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA), which came into force in 2003. At the same time, over the past century, understandings of the roles of youth probation officers (YPOs) have oscillated philosophically between requiring rehabilitative, caring interventions and requiring interventions oriented towards public safety, accountability, and control. Under the JDA, YPOs "acted in the best interest of the child" by providing information to assist juvenile court judges in informal and non-criminal adjudications and in supervision of these decisions. In contrast, the YOA shifted the YPO role to reflect regulatory due process and public safety principles. However, the YOA was criticized for having a set of philosophical principles whose incoherence resulted in major discrepancies among the different provinces and territories, particularly in regard to the sentencing of young offenders; and for relying too heavily on the court process and custodial dispositions for minor offenders (Corrado and Markwart 1992).

What consequences do young people face when they break the law?

• Erin, Athena, Alyssa, Shereen, Yuridia,

The Youth Criminal Justice Act

• The Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) is based on the beliefs that young people deserve another opportunity to join the community as useful members of it, ycja deals with people from 12-17 years old. That is why when a minor breaks the law, the ycja usually prevents young people from receiving adult sentences.

• The difference of the sentences between adults and kids is due to the fact that members of the YCJA believe that young people shouldn’t be treated as adults because they don’t understand their action in the same way adult people do. They’re different from adults, their responses to situation are also different. A young person that has broken the law has more chance of change his life than an adult who has broken the law.

• If a young person breaks the law there will be consequences.The Youth Criminal Justice Act discuss and decides those consequences.

What are the objectives the YJCA?•Prevent crime by addressing the circumstances- A minor may  need counselling  for alcohol/Drug abuse or even help coping with a family situation.•Rehabilitate and Reintegrate- Minors who commit crime at a young age are encouraged to make positive decisions in their future, then they are put back into society •    Makes sure that a young person is given the proper punishment to the crime they committed. •   When youth are arrested they are given different punishments than an adult. As a child you brain is still growing and developing so it is harder to tell the consequences for the crime they commit.

Rehabilitation

• Rehabilitation is when young offenders have to go through steps to talk about their problems. Young people must be held responsible for their actions in crimes. Now, because of their age, young people are less set in their ways and they are more likely to respond to their way of rehab, and successfully be rehabilitated and become a citizen that agrees to laws.

• An example of rehabilitation could be when a young person becomes an addict to drugs or alcohol, they usually go to rehab and then after the treatment they have had, they would be clean, in another they wont be addicted anymore unless they start doing the same thing over again.

• Before the Youth Criminal Justice Act (aka YCJA), every minor who broke the law immediately went to court. This basically meant that these people did not have to face the consequences because courts were busy with other cases. 

• What factors determines the consequences young offenders face?• This depends based on what the minors did. But, they consider things such as:• The seriousness of the issue.• The young person’s history. If they have been in trouble before, it is most likely that they will face bigger consequences compared to a first-time offender.

• The attitude of the offender. Believe it or not, if you take responsibility for your actions, you are most likely to face less serious consequences.

• It also depends on the circumstances on why the offender did what they did. For example, this young person may have problems at home or anything like that, and if that’s the case they may need the guidance from a social worker rather than the justice system. 

Reintegration

• Reintegration is when a youth must learn how to fit back into their community. They will have supervision in the community and will have a period of custody. Reintegration is required for all youth in custody. There are some rules that they have to follow, which are:

• Attending school on time everyday• Not associating with certain people• Obey a curfew • Not be in touch with any weapons• Attend anger management or drug and alcohol counselling everyday • If the youth obeys and follows these rules, than they have a better chance of not committing a very serious crime.

How does the YCJA deal with youth crime?

• The YCJA is basically intended to: protect the public, prevent crime, and ensure that the youth get meaningful consequences for their crimes.  By meaningful consequences, they basically mean consequences that help the youth understand the impact of their actions. They deal with the youth crime by:

• addressing the crime• being fair• helping repair the harm done to the victims and the community• involving the family• respecting gender, cultural and language differences • and more

YCJA

• By Shyla, Vince, Davin, Maynard & Christian 

What is the YCJA?

• The law that governs canada youth justice system.• The Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) applies to young people who are 12-17 years old.

• It applies to young people that have committed crimes 

What are the objectives

1.Make timely responses to offenses outside judicial measures.2.Encourage the youth to know and repair harm caused to the community.3.Help family members to get involved. 4.Give victims a chance to take part in decisions.5.Respect the freedoms of the youth.

Background about the YCJA

• On April 1st,2003 the YCJA came into force, replacing the previous legislation ( The YOA )

• The YCJA introduced significant concerns about how the youth justice system had evolved under the YOA

Objective 1: Addressing Youth Crime

• Today, youth crimes are common, with young people using illegal drugs and drinking alcohol even though they are under drinking age. There are also numerous cases of theft, arson, and even murder done by youth occurring in Canada. One of the YCJA’s objectives is to address these crimes so they can rehabilitate the youth and possibly prevent any future crimes from occurring. Addressing youth crime also means talking to youth before they do anything illegal. To prevent a crime that someone they’ll do when they’re an adult, you have to talk to them before they grow up to be a criminal. 

Objective 2: Encouraging the youth

•Adults can encourage the youth to help repair the community by showing a good influence and be a role model. •Kids can be unpredictable when it comes to their actions so bring it to mind that it’s our job to make sure that those actions are just.

Objective 3: Help family members get involved

• Youth crime is more prevalent in youth living with struggling families. These families usually have bad income, family members involved with crime, or families that neglect their child. Getting family members involved with their children when they commit crime may help the child think better in the future and may ease them when they are pressured with the consequences of their actions. Also, getting family members involved with their child’s life and talking to their child about what’s legal and illegal before they do a crime will help them in the future.

Objective 4: Giving victims the chance to take part in decisions

•Victims decide whether to make charges or to not make charges. •they help make the final verdict by giving their point of view while in the courtroom.

Objective 5: Respect the freedoms of the youth

•In Canada, there are many rights given to the youth.•Some people do not know their rights or don’t respect youth rights and therefore exploit them.•To avoid disrespect of youth rights, the YCJA will interpret and enforce these rights. They will also work to inform the public about youth rights so  that it may be followed.

Chapter 2Brayden, Francis, Kian, Neil, Tyrone

What are advocacy groups?

•Canada has two major organizations led by citizens involved in the justice system. The John Howard Society and the Elizabeth Fry Society. •These two groups work independently of government so when they want to influence the public policy they do it without putting candidates up for election.

•They provide education about the justice system and laws.

•These 2 groups also help youths and adults who have broken the law to help them return to their lovely communities.

•Sometimes they even try to arrange meetings between victims and offenders so they can work things out and move on in life.

What are advocacy groups?

•They fight for the rights of minors and adults who were accused of crime.•They do their best to improve the justice system for accusations of crime and for people who were harmed by crime.•The Elizabeth Fry Society focuses on issues dealing with women and girls, while the John Howard Society deals with everyone (women, men, girls, and boys) who got in trouble with the law.

What is the role of John Howard Society?

•For the last years the way the justice system would respond to crime was to pass much harsher laws and harsher penalties.•Whenever a dollar is spent on programs to stop crimes, society would save $7 - $20 on justice system that deals with crime•Advocate the government’s correction.

What is the role of John Howard Society.  

•There has been a tendency for the last twenty to thirty years for the justice system to respond to crime and passing more laws, Harsher laws and harsher penalties.•Prevention makes good sense economically, it makes good sense socially and it’s the right thing to do. •We are like a conscience for the justice system.

What is the role of the Elizabeth Fry Society?

•Is an association of groups operating under the Elizabeth Fry Society banner, similar in many respects to the John Howard Society.•The Elizabeth Fry Society groups work on issues affecting women and girls in the justice system.

What responsibilities do Jurors have?

• By: Izzy, Angelo, Elaine, Christy, and Christine

What is Juror?

• Jurors have a very important job to do in the legal system. In a criminal trial, they are given with the responsibility of deciding if someone guilty or not guilty of what they a changed for . A juror may be asked to participate in a criminal or civil trial. This will depend on whether the case relates to criminal or civil lawsuit. If you're a juror you get one phone call, you can't talk to anyone except the jury

What are the responsibility of a juror?

•Jurors are set aside to take on the legal proceeding  exclusively upon of the trial  authority.•Stay liberated (independent)•Stay focused and not get corrupted. Give undivided attention to the trial•Must always attend meeting.  A trial can’t be continued unless a juror is there.

What a jurors are NOT responsible for

•Jurors must not make excuses for not attending jury service•Give wrong or deceptive ( misleading) information about someone•Jurors should not examine the case with anyone or with other jurors until the case is accomplished.•they’re not permitted question bystander-someone who saw what happened- (witness).

What is a Jury?

•The Jury has an important function in the legal system. •You are entitled to be tried by jury unless the alleged offenceis a minor one or one that is being tried in the Special Criminal Court.•

•There will be a jury in some civil cases. •Major cases will not be held by a jury, but by a judge that decides the outcome of it. •The jury has 12 ordinary people that use their common sense to decide if the person is either guilty or innocent.

What’s a jury duty?

•A jury duty is where jurors use evidence and the law to reach a verdict.•Any Canadian citizen that is 18 years or older is eligible for jury duty unless you’ve also been convicted of any crimes.•If you have been chosen for jury duty, it’s your responsibility to appear at the courthouse on time. You cannot excuse yourself from it but the only way to do so is if it would cause you undue hardship.•Once you’ve been chosen as a juror, you’re not allowed access to any technology or it would be taken away from you.

How are jurors appointed?

•  UK jury comprises 12 people drawn from the population, or appointed by the population based on the facts and the evidence discussed. •the selection of an officer who is assigned to the list the names of the appointment of the electoral list for the jury selection process that is believed to be doing good work.•It is Difficult to appoint judges from a place that many people who even have their own intelligence in the ability of the Jury.

Vocabularies:

•These are some of the terms that jurors need to know:Defence: It includes the evidence that supports the innocence of the person who is accused of the crime. In a courtroom, the lawyer who represents an accused person presents the defence. The defence can include witnesses, and physical evidence like DNA samples and other objects.Prosecution: The prosecution includes the evidence that supports the guilt of an accused person.Sequester: To sequester means to remove from contact. Juries are sequestered to ensure they consider only the evidence presented in the courtroom.