Youth Court Observation Assignment Canada’s Criminal Justice system offers youth justice courts which have exclusive jurisdiction over cases involving young persons. They are specialized so that they only handle cases involving young persons. Youth cases are also held in their own courtrooms in local courthouses. These youth courts are open to the public like all Canadian courts, but due to the Youth Criminal Justice Act, youth still have privacy rights the identifies of youth cannot be publicized, unlike in adult court.
Observations
A principle of common law, is that courts are open for public observation (Government of Canada, 2015, para. 1). Because of this principle, people are able to watch the majority of the cases at the Canadian courts, wether they be in youth court, traffic court, criminal court, etc.. There is a lot to learn in a classroom, but there are some things you can only learn from real life experiences, such as observing court in action.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere of the courtroom was constantly changing, but was generally more calm and relaxed than the atmosphere of adult court. The room was free from excessive decor and was organized and clean cut. The environment was generally friendly, pleasant, polite and professional. When the judge appeared in court the atmosphere tensed and it was clear someone of a higher authority was present because everyone was very respectful.
Personnel
People were constantly coming and going from the youth
In Canada when a young person gets in trouble with the law, the punishment given will be in accordance with the Youth Criminal Justice Act. The Youth Criminal Justice Act was created in 2003. The main objective of this legislation is to hold youth accountable for their actions through the promotion of “rehabilitation” and “reintegration” (Youth Criminal Justice Act, 2002, S.3a(ii)). Within the Canadian court system, there is a youth court for individuals who get in trouble with the law while they are still under the age of 18 years. In Calgary, Alberta the youth courtrooms are located in the Calgary Courts Center building, which is located at 601 5th Street SW. I attended youth court on Wednesday, October 26, 2016 and Monday, October 31th. This paper will shed light on the atmosphere of the youth courtroom, analyze how the criminal justice professionals are acting within the courtroom, and discuss certain cases that went through the youth courts.
Canada has many rules in place for all the crimes that happens throughout the country. However, people of different ages are treated differently. This is because of the YCJA, which gives youth who commit crime, under the age of eighteen, certain rights that adult criminals don’t get. This is a very debated and important topic because this act gives certain advantages to youth criminals because of their age and some people don’t think that this is fair.
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