SOC 3750 Lecture Notes - Youth Rights, Young Offenders Act, Formal System
20 Apr 2013
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Document Summary
This chapter is intended to draw attention to the positive developments in the juvenile justice policy field as well as to some of the challenges that are still ahead. The law that regulates criminal conduct for children and youth is a binary system. It focuses on the children until they cross into the age of majority or adulthood. The children and youth are given protection from the state. There is restrictions on their freedom and investment in their development so they will become competent adults as productive members of society eventually. The age of majority is when an individual has reached an age and development stage where they can be autonomous individuals who do not need the state"s protection anymore. This system only focuses on immature children and competent adults . Problem: there is no opportunity to include the evolving capacities of children as they mature during their adolescent years.
