Young Offenders Should Not Have Harsher Consequences Essay Example for Free

Young Offenders Should Not Have Harsher Consequences Essay Do you know about the YCJA? If so, do you agree with the way it goes about doing things? The Youth Criminal Justice Act passed in 2003 by parliament allows young offenders to be treated differently than adult offenders. The conservatives want to introduce a bill to treat offenders more harshly. I strongly disagree with this. Young offenders should not be given harsher consequences. The YCJA is stable. It has many goals to accomplish. Also instead of just looking at the crime it goes deeper into the situation by examining the person’s background. The YCJA has helped young offenders. They attempt to rehabilitate the person in a way that is not harsh. They also reintegrate them into society which is giving them a chance at a new life. I think that guidance is what the young offenders need, not to be treated harshly. The need to be shown which â€Å"path† to take. Whether it is from just the YCJA or maybe even a sentencing circle. The YCJA is stable. Its main goals consist of the points stated next. They attempt to stop crime from happening again by addressing the situation underlying a young person’s offending behaviour. Examples of this goal in action are counselling or helping a family deal with a situation. The second goal is to rehabilitate and reintegrate young offenders. The third goal is to ensure that a young person has meaningful consequences for the offence that the young offender committed. The YCJA wants long-term protection of society. In my opinion if a consequence is meaningful it is more effective than a consequence that is harsh. The fourth and final goal is to make sure that young people are separated from adults. We have to realize that they have a reduce level of maturity. The YCJA is helping young offenders. One way it is doing this is by rehabilitating and reintegrating young offenders. I want to touch on this point again because it is a very important part of the YCJA. When the YCJA attempts to rehabilitate a young offender it goes about doing it in this way. They give the young offenders the skills to make good choices further on in life. They also want to help find good ways for them to participate in their community. Examples of this are joining a sport team or a YMCA club. Guidance will help these children not harsh punishments. Teens need to be protected from harsher consequences. Why? Well because teenagers have a lower-level of maturity. They also have a rapid fluctuation in hormones which is usually accompanied by irritability, recklessness, aggression and depression. All of these things could have been a starting point for the crime the young offender has committed. We cannot be harsh on them for something they cannot control. Teens are also rebellious. Statistics for boys show that teenage criminal behaviour tends to begin around 13 and reach its highest point at age 17 and then almost disappear in early adulthood. Teenagers have not developed the ability to think things through this is also known as their brain’s late development. The late brain development is a big contributor to all the risks teens take so how can we turn around and blame the whole thing on them by giving the harsher consequences? I believe that the YCJA is doing everything that needs to be done. By helping the teen they are improving their decisions. Therefore lessening the chance of having the teen be a repeat offender. I would like to state once again that harsher consequences will not do anything for these teen offenders. GUIDANCE IS THE WAY TO GO!