Judge Defends Youth Act

Judge Jamie Campbell was in Halifax to defend Canada's Youth Criminal Justice Act. He believes the system is working and is proud to be a part of it.

"It recognizes that kids work differently from the way adults do, and they're developing (and) they're growing — they're changing a lot faster...It's a system that knows it's not perfect . . . and knows it's never going to get perfect, but we'll just have to keep trying,"

http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1050949.html

The system is certainly far from perfect, which is what the public has been saying for years. It is designed to rehabilitate youth instead of punish them for their crimes. The problem is that the system is not doing enough to rehabilitate young criminals and does not recognize repeat offenders. If the same youth is in front of a judge for the second, third, forth time, rehabilitation is obviously not the answer.

The simple fact is that young people know they are likely not going to punished much at all for committing a crime. The act could even lead youth down a dangerous path later in life. If they start off committing minor crimes and not held accountable, the crimes could escalate as they get older.

If the system is not perfect, change it. Find out what is not working and change the act to reflect it.