Last fall, Canada’s government introduced legislation to amend the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA). The goal is to include deterrence and denunciation as sentencing principles, in other words, allowing judges to detain young offenders before trial should they be considered to pose a risk to public safety.

CCJC participated in a Consultation prior to introduction of this new legislation. Maureen Murphy, CCJC’s Past-president, represented CCJC in a meeting with Justice Canada to consult on the pre-trial detention of youth under the YCJA. Her brief can be accessed through this link (pdf).

CCJC also submitted its views on the proposed amendments to Justice Canada. Follow this link (pdf) to read our submissions.

We now observe that many of the recommendations from the consultation are not reflected in the current proposed legislation. Consultations continue to take place, including this summer. CCJC’s comments on the YCJA for the second YCJA Review Roundtable promoted by Justice Canada will soon be available here.