Youth sentencing.

• Author: Mireau, Shaunna
• Position: Online Law

I am a mother. Being a mother is a lovely state, however, it does occasionally lead to worst-case scenario nightmares. I have absolutely no reason to expect that my children will come into close personal contact with the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA). But, one worst-case scenario in the context of this legislation is that my child will commit an offence for which she will be sentenced. Panic! The legal researcher in me jumps immediately to the how much time will she get--also known as sentencing research.

There is a new frames browsing feature for the federal statutes on the Justice Canada Laws site which makes the YCJA easy to view (http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/ ShowTdm/cs/Y-1.5). Researching for sentencing precedents--cases that give sentences or guidelines for sentences for various offences--is tricky. With any tricky legal research question, we start by following the basic research process. You can refresh your memory about the research process with a look at www.legalresearch.org.

The first step is usually to look to narrative sources or texts for information. The second is to see if a statute applies. Because we know that a statute applies, and even which statute, we can jump ahead to the legislation step.

Sentencing is covered in Part 4 of the YCJA. S. 42 sets out the considerations about sentencing a judge may use and a range of sanctions, including a reprimand, time in a youth detention centre, and/or an order of restitution.

There are many and varied alternatives for sentencing youth. Very few of these relate to a...