CRM 3312 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Equal Protection Clause, The Young Offenders, Truancy

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Criminology
• Course: CRM 3312
• Professor: Kathryn Campbell

Document Summary

In canada, the nature of the special legal treatment of youth has evolved significantly over the course of history and remains controversial today. Despite the controversy, there is widespread acceptance of the principle that children and adolescents having special needs and limited capacities require distinctive, or at least separate, treatment from adults. By the time legal adulthood is reach (currently at the age of 18 in most provinces in canada), a person generally has a full range of legal rights and obligations. By the beginning of adolescence (age 12) youth display a growing social, intellectual, moral, and sexual awareness, as well as increasing physical size and strength. While for many physical growths ends at about age 15, individuals continue to mature intellectually, neurologically, psychologically, and socially until well into adulthood. Adolescence is a period of growing self-awareness and increasing autonomy. Authority figures are challenged and personal limits tested.