The Evolution Of Youth Crime

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.

Youth crime is a growing epidemic that affects most teenagers at one point in their life. There is no question in society to whether or not youths are committing crimes. It has been shown that since 1986 to 1998 violent crime committed by youth jumped approximately 120% (CITE). The most controversial debate in Canadian history would have to be about the Young Offenders Act (YOA). In 1982, Parliament passed the Young Offenders Act (YOA). Effective since 1984, the Young Offenders Act replaced the most recent version of the Juvenile Delinquents Act (JDA). The Young Offenders Act’s purpose was to shift from a social welfare approach to making youth take responsibility for their actions. It also addressed concerns that the paternalistic

Throughout this essay, I am going to be looking at the topic of youth offending. I will be looking at what factors can be used as the predictors for youth offending and in particular I will be researching into how important social and cultural factors as predictors of youth offending. In order to do this, I will be looking at different sociologists theories as far as young offending is concerned and what evidence there is to support these theories. I will then conclude by discussing whether I believe social and cultural factors are important in determining youth offending.

Juvenile offenders are increasing day by day regardless of the efforts to control the youth crime. It is important to understand the fact that even though the offenders fall in the young age bracket, they are still a part of human species. Human nature responds to violent actions with violent reactions. Violent reactions cause an increase in the violent actions instead of controlling them. However violent reactions may cause a temporary stop in the violent actions which may lead the authorities to believe that they have contained the crime. However, that doesn't stand true as a temporary stop does not result in a permanent solution.

What is the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA)? The YCJA was created in 2003 in Canada’s Parliament by the Liberal Party of Canada and has been effective since April 1, 2003. This system is separate from the Criminal Code of Canada, and was created to treat young offenders differently compared to adult offenders since younger people think and act differently compared to adults. This act deals with youth aged 12 to 17 who have gotten into trouble with the law. It allows for youth aged 14 to 17 to receive adult sentences, if necessary. Youth receive no permanent criminal record, unless it is an adult sentence or if they are on the run. Under the YCJA, the media cannot release any details about the young offender. The YCJA is an effective law because it helps to protect the

The United States sentences more juveniles to death than any other nation in the world (Justice, 2009) and our juveniles are being sentenced as young as ten years of age. These are juveniles being tried as adults, and something has to change and change fast. The younger generation is supposed to be our future leaders. How will our juveniles or the citizens of this country prevail if this continues we won’t be able to because most of our future leaders will be prisoner. (B, 2005)

Why is the Youth Criminal Justice Act so important? What does it do for us and our youth? How is it fair and equitable? The YCJA applies to young offenders twelve to seventeen, and youth ages fourteen to seventeen can be given adult sentences if needed. It gives meaningful consequences to young offenders and helps rehabilitate and reintegrate them back into our society.

The United States leads the world in the incarceration of young people, there are over 100,000 youth placed in jail each year. Locking up youth has shown very little positive impact on reducing crime. Incarcerating youth have posed greater problems such as expenses, limited education, lack of employment, and effect on juveniles’ mental and physical well-being.

To many Americans today, the country is a hostage-but not from oversea terrorism as one might expect to think. No today, we live in fear from our own children; and these are the same young people who we are entrusting the future of this great country with. According to the Department of Justice report released in November, thirty-eight percent of those arrested for weapons offenses in 1995 were under the age of eighteen (Curriden). In the same report, the Bureau of Justice Statistics stated that in 1995, 3 out of every 100 eighteen-year-olds were arrested for weapons offenses. A rate three times higher than for males twenty-five to twenty-nine and five times higher than for males thirty to thirty-four (Curriden).

From an online article published by KARE11 News station, in October in 2016, a 17-year-old boy decided to commit murder to a man and a harmless 7-month-old baby without even thinking.

The overwhelming majority of juveniles are involved in impulsive or risky, even delinquent behaviors during their teenage years. However, the majority go on to become very productive citizens who do not commit crimes. In order for this to continue the government established the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) which gives young offenders a chance to better themselves, and. By doing so, the YCJA helps teach youth that their actions are unacceptable and the punishments imposed are lesser then an adult. Through the analysis of their unacceptable actions, lesser punishments and a better future, it is clear that YCJA is highly effective at giving youth a better chance in society.

Firstly, some people believes that the youth crime still increases in recent years. (The Australian 2008) However, there is a little evidence show that a decline when we look at the government statistics. Figure A illustrates that the juvenile and the adult offenders from 1996-97 to 2006-07.

Youth crime has been declining for years, but this has not stopped the media from overreporting youth crime and giving an inaccurate account of what is happening in the community. The media often sensationalize and even exaggerates crime done by youth because “crime is news”. But, this approach can have a negative impact, since most people only get information about crime from the media; therefore, their beliefs about youth crime is distorted. For example, this past month of collecting news articles about youth crime has shown how they focus on crimes that are not only violent but that are quite serious. Eight articles had a Crime Severity Index (CSI) above 100 and four articles were about murders. Furthermore, majority of the articles were about crimes that seemed to be reoccurring. A great example would be the egging incident that occurred in North Vancouver, one which caused major damage to the eye of a teen, when the egg cracked in his eye. The media exaggerated how many egging incidents that occurred, as they made it seem as if there had been no prior incidents in the previous month and it had all of a sudden started to occur. However, in reality, they were just now keeping track of the egging incidents because someone was seriously injured. This shows how the media is a business that needs to make money, so they use crime as people will pay close attention to it.

Children have been described as our future, our greatest resource, and our hope for a better tomorrow. For many Americans, though, children invoke fear. They represent violence, a segment of society lacking in self-control and devoid of ethics and morals, and the failure of the family to instill traditional values, top among them being the value of human life and respect for others.

grew by 86% from 1988 to 1992, which was more then any other type of juvenile