• It creates two new schemes for dealing with youth crime: child safety orders, which apply to children under the age of 10, and parenting orders, which are made against the parents of a child who has been given an anti-social behaviour order. • Creates sex offender orders, which bar offenders from activities and areas frequented by children. • Abolishes the death penalty for treason or piracy. • Introduces separate offences for crimes that were aggravated by the victim's race or presumed race. • Obliges local authorities, the police and other local bodies to draw up a crime and disorder strategy covering their area.
According to the Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 (NSW), young offenders between 10 and 18 are said to hold criminal responsibility, while those under the age of 10 hold no criminal responsibility. This is due to the common law of doli incapax. A child is believed to not fully understand the consequences of their actions, and therefore not have the criminal intent (mens rea) to be convicted of the offence. Children are treated in a way that provides them with an opportunity to continue their lives in a positive manner, without being discriminated against due to past breaches of law. A presumption exists that a child between the ages of 10 and 14 is unable to form criminal intent.
ESSAY STIMULUS Stimulus to be received prior to the exam Stimulus One At the Children’s Court, a 15 year old was found guilty of wilful damage to property. OR Stimulus Two The Youth Justice System in Queensland The goal of youth justice is to provide a fair and balanced response to young people in contact with the youth justice system. This response holds young people accountable for their actions, encourages their reintegration into the community and promotes community safety. This underpins the Youth Justice Act (1992)QLD. Overview of the Youth Justice Act 1992 QLD The Youth Justice Act 1992 QLD provides a code for dealing with young people who come in contact with the youth justice system including: * procedures
Youth Criminal Justice Act The Leniency Argument January 2010 The Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA), introduced on April 1, 20031 for youth aged 12 – 17, is legislation designed to balance the legalistic framework of the Young Offenders Act (YOA) and the social-needs approach underlying the Juvenile Delinquents Act (JDA). The Declaration of Principle, which outlines the philosophy of the YCJA, states that “the purpose of the youth criminal justice system is to prevent crime by addressing the circumstances underlying a young person’s offending behaviour, rehabilitate young persons who commit offences and reintegrate them back into society, and ensure that a young person is subject to meaningful consequences for his or her offences, in order to promote the long-term protection of the public”2. The YCJA legislation was developed as a direct response to harsh criticism of the Young Offenders Act (YOA) which it replaced. The YOA had significant issues in terms of lacking a clear and consistent youth justice philosophy, the overuse of incarceration, using the court system for minor offences, unfairness in sentencing, the ineffective reintegration of the offender into society, unfairness in transfers to adult court, no clear distinction between serious violent offences and less serious offences and no sufficient recognition to the interests of the victims.1 While some believe that the YCJA has addressed all of these issues, there are others who believe that our youth justice system has a long way to go to fully take into account the needs of both the victims and offenders. I plan to demonstrate, through this document, that the YCJA is too lenient in dealing with youth crime, particularly where it involves weapons and violence.
Only juvenile Justice is solely responsible for Young Offenders – those who have been referred to a youth justice conference by either the Police or Children’s Court, and those who are on community nor custodial orders made by the Children’s Court. No single piece of legislation regulates the juvenile justice system in any Australian jurisdiction. Some legislation applies to only to children while other legislation applies to both children and adults. For example in NSW the legislation covering Juvenile Justice is covered under: * Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 (NSW) * Children’s Court Act 1987 (NSW) * Children (Community Service Orders) Act 1987 (NSW) * Children (Detention Centres) Act 1987 (NSW) * Children (Interstate Transfer of Offenders) Act 1988 (NSW) * Children (Protection and Parental Responsibility) Act 1987 (NSW) * Young Offenders Act 1997
Specifically it: Requires more juvenile offenders to be try in adult court Requires that certain juvenile offenders be held in local or state correctional facilities Changes the types of probation available for juvenile felons Reduces confidentiality protections for juvenile offenders Increases penalties for gang-related crimes and require convicted gang members to register with local law enforcement agencies Increases criminal penalties for certain serious and violent offenses (www.lao.ca.gov) Rehabilitation The juvenile criminal justice system for rehabilitation is a basic system that helps with education, schooling, and a job training; basically giving the juveniles a second chance on life. The Juvenile Justice System is intended to have goals for their public safety as well treatment in California. When it comes to California State Juvenile Justice System are programs that deal with community supervision who handles the juveniles, detention, and incarceration. The goals in the juvenile justice system includes that schooling have social workers that help the youth out on life and organizations that each individual participates in. For a minor who is a juvenile victim is arrested than law enforcement
However, in Australia restorative justice in the form of conferencing is primarily for young offenders. Australia’s use of restorative justice has been heavily influenced by New Zealand’s use of family group conferencing, after they introduced the New Zealand Children, Young persons and their Families Act in 1989. The purpose of this essay is to firstly, highlight current concepts of restorative justice. Secondly, discuss the application of restorative justice in the criminal justice system and then its application with youth. Restorative justice is an alternative way to look at criminal justice(Stahlkopf, 2009) and react to a criminals behaviour.
How did the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 change the sentencing process for young people? The 1999 Criminal Evidence Act was introduced for the following reasons; to provide for the referral of offenders under 18 to youth offender panels; to make provision in connection with the giving of evidence or information for the purposes of criminal proceedings; to amend section 51 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994; to make pre-consolidation amendments relating to youth justice; and for connected purposes.’ [27th July 1999] The Act is about improving the effectiveness of the youth court and preventing offending by children and young people. This is now the principal aim of the youth justice system. Changes to the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act gave further reforms to the youth court, these changes created a new sentence of referral to a youth offender panel, known as a Referral Order. A Referral Order will be available for young people convicted for the first time and its primary aim is to prevent re-offending.
Sutherlands first three principles: 1. Criminal behaviour is learnt Sutherland found no evidence that heredity or human nature being involved in causes of criminal behaviour. People are not predetermined to be criminals because their parents were criminals (Joubert et al., 2009). They have to learn to commit crimes themselves. Just like anything in life you have to be taught how to do it, crime is the same you do not simply become a criminal.
The legal term juvenile delinquent was generated so that young offenders could steer clear of the humiliation of being labeled in officially authorized court documents as criminals. In the United States, all states have separate systems for dealing with juvenile and adult criminals. A juvenile delinquent is a minor that is usually under the age of 18, who have committed an offense in states which have confirmed by law that a minor does not encompass responsibility and therefore may not be punished as an adult. Though, the legislatures of a number of states have decreased the age of unlawful accountability for severe crimes or for persistent habitual offenders to as low