What Should Canada Do With Youth Criminals?

In Canada, we've had several problems with youth crimes over several years in the recent past. We've also gone through many legal changes in respects to juvenile offenders.

Starting in 1908 with the Juvenile Delinquents Act, and in 1984, it changed to the Youth Offenders Act, which was far too soft on youth criminals according to popular opinion at the time, as it didn't have a concrete philosophy on how to punish the young offenders. Most recently, with the Youth Criminal Justice Act. This act was much more revolutionary in comparison to the other two acts because it focused more on rehabilitating the criminals and reintegrating them into society, as opposed to simply punishing them. I agree with how this law deals with the young offenders because I believe that a lot of the time, juvenile crimes are caused by physical, sexual, or otherwise, like in the case of Nathan Ybanez, so I find it important that we rehabilitate children criminals.

Also, we should consider keeping these rehabilitated offenders under strict surveillance, as there is a trend that most prison inmates are reoffenders once they are released. As a result, to make sure that the young offenders don’t become young reoffenders, because once they do, they should not be allowed to be rehabilitated again, as it would be a waste of time; they have already been given a chance to change, they should not be able to have another for such a serious issue. This surveillance program should include six months of staying at a foster home under house arrest and weekly visits from a parole officer to make sure that they are staying within the limits of the law. After that, they will be put under another year of being in the foster home under house arrest without the checks from the parole officer. Finally, they will be let free to become a functioning part of society.