NCJ Number
107430
Journal
Canadian Journal of Family Law Volume: 5 Issue: 2 Dated: (Fall 1986) Pages: 301-319
Date Published
1986
Length
19 pages
Annotation
The authors analyze the results of interviews with the full-time Family and Youth Division Judges in Alberta, Canada, in order to determine what effect the Young Offenders Act (YOA) has had on Alberta's youth courts during the first year of the Act's existence.
Abstract
The authors find that most judges continue to be treatment oriented, as they were under the Juvenile Delinquent's Act. However, the judges are concerned about the decreased quality of services for young offenders since the advent of the YOA. The emphasis on the rights of young offenders in the YOA has not had a major impact on the courts, because the judges feel that rights were generally being respected under the Juvenile Delinquent's Act. Nevertheless, there has apparently been a significant increase in legal representation, which seems to present more advantages to lawyers than to young offenders. Unless the justice system is able to respond to the major principles of the YOA in a more balanced way, some of the best features of the old system may be lost without corresponding gains from the new legislation. (Author abstract modified)