Preface

• Author: Nicholas Bala/Sanjeev Anand
• Pages: 17-20

xvii

PREFACE

The way in which the justice sy stem respond s to young person s who

violate the crimin al law is profoundly signif‌icant, not only for those

who are directly involved in the process but also for society as a whole.

A society’s response to young offenders conveys important messages

about its attitudes to youth and has signif‌icant implications for its fu-

ture. This book is primarily wr itten for students in law schools, cri mi-

nology programs, and other related di sciplines, and is intended to give

them a n int roduction to the laws governing young people who come

into conf‌lict with the law. It has a part icular focus on Canada’s Youth

Criminal Justice Act, which came into force in April of 2003. The book

may also be useful for law yers, judges, probation off‌icers, and other

justice system professionals who are sta rting to work in this f‌ield.

The f‌ield of youth justice law is an important, controversial area. In

2003 there was a major reform in th is area with the coming into force of

the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA), which replaced the Young Offenders

Act (YOA) of 1984. The YCJA i s a c ompl ex p iece of l egi sla tio n th at c han ged

ma ny of t he pri ncipl es and spec if‌ic r ules t hat g overn youth justi ce is sues.

Although it has a signif‌ica ntly different philosophy from that of the YOA

and many different provisions, some port ions of the old Act have been

incorporated into the YCJA. This book focuses on the YCJA, although

some issues can best be understood by considering how the former stat-

ute was applied and interpreted. In signif‌icant measure, the new Act is a

response to some of the failings of the old one, and the YCJ A can be st be

understood as a response to problems that arose under the YOA.