Youth Justice

On April 1, 2003, the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) came into force in Canada.  It replaced the old Young Offenders Act.  The YCJA sets out how we hold young people accountable when they get into trouble with the law. It contains rules about how youth crime is handled, and provides guidelines and options for those who deal with youth crime, such as police, judges and probation officers. It also contains a number of additional rights and protections that are given to youth ages 12 to 17. In 2012, Parliament amended the YCJA to increase public confidence in the youth justice system and strengthen the ways it deals with repeat and violent offenders.

PLEIS-NB thanks the Department of Justice Canada, Youth Justice Policy, for funding this portion of our youth justice website. You can also visit Justice Canada’s youth justice website at www.justice.gc.ca/youth to access further information about the YCJA and more.