Toews says courts can handle children under 12


http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060815/Youth_Criminal_060815/20060815?hub=Canada







Justice Minister Vic Toews leaves the House of Commons in Ottawa as
seen in this file photo. (CP / Fred Chartrand)
Toews says courts can handle children under 12
Updated Tue. Aug. 15 2006 12:00 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Children under the age of 12 who "run afoul of the law" should be dealt
with under the Youth Criminal Justice Act and hauled before the courts,
Vic Toews announced Monday.
The justice minister said he is considering amending the legislation to
give judges authority over offenders as young as 10 or 11.
The act presently applies to youths between the ages of 12 to 18.
Toews said he is considering changing the act not because he thinks 10
and 11-year-olds should be jailed, but because he thinks courts should
be able to step in before a child has established a pattern of
behaviour that could have harmful, long-term consequences.
"There doesn't necessarily have to be a charge, but there has to be
some kind of a mechanism that you can bring the child into the context
of the court," Toews said after giving a speech at the annual Canadian
Bar Association conference in St. John's, N.L.
"I'm sometimes provided with anecdotes about people who've had a
horrendous involvement with the police and other social agencies, but
the courts have been unable to intervene until age 12," Toews said.
"I would like to see courts being able to intervene, especially in
terms of treatment, at an earlier age."
More flexibility
"There needs to be more flexibility in the act," Toews told reporters.
"We need to find ways of ensuring children are deterred from crime.
"Sometimes children, by the time they're 12, because the courts have
been unable to access them under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, have
in fact established a pattern of conduct that will be harmful over the
long term," Toews continued.
"I don't think, when it comes to young people of that age, that we can
afford to wait."
Nicholas Bala, a law professor at Queen's University, told CTV.ca that
lowering the minimum age could fill a gap in the current system.
"There are a small number of children as young as 10 who are committing
serious offences," Bala said Tuesday.
"Some children are not getting the help they need, however, it's
important to recognize that 10-year-olds have very different needs from
older children. Any changes should be reserved only for the most
serious repeat offenders."
The Youth Criminal Justice Act, which took effect in 2003, favours
rehabilitation over incarceration of young offenders aged 12 to 17.
Teens can be subject to adult sentences in exceptional cases under the
present law, but the Conservative government has pledged to strengthen
those provisions.
The Tories said anyone over 14 years of age should automatically face
adult sentencing for serious violent or repeat offences.
They have also proposed to make deterrence a mandatory factor to
consider in passing sentence.
In the United States, 16 states have a minimum age for juvenile court,
ranging from 10 in some states to just 6 in North Carolina.
In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the minimum is 10, but it is 8
in Scotland.

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