Does the Federal Youth Criminal Justice Act need to be reformed? My take on it

FYI, this post is a copy of the same post that I put up on the Official NL First Party Blog (authored by me), which can be viewed at http://www.nlfirstpartyblog.blogspot.com

Hello everyone, while listening to VOCM Night Line on Sunday, September 30th, I noticed that 5-6 people called in saying that it's time that we reform the Federal Youth Criminal Justice Act. Among some of the suggestions, it was mentioned that due to the amount of technology available to teenagers these days, youth criminals can get a large gathering of people together almost spontaneously.

Also, it was mentioned that if restitution/rehabilitation made up a greater part of the act, that would help curve crime. For example, one caller mentioned (and VOCM Night Line Linda Swain) mentioned that if someone was caught spraying graffiti on property, part of their punishment should be not only to own up to their mistake, but also to have to re-pay the victim of the graffiti for the damages and to clean it up themselves. Once again, as the Student Rep for the NL First Party and the Director of Youth Organizations within the Party, I know that when I went to my 1st/2nd session of the SJRYP (St.John's Regional Youth Parliament, a voluntary non-partisan way for young people to pass resolutions to be sent to government to pressure them to act on issues affecting young people), a proposal was put forward to abolish the Youth Criminal Justice Act, thereby treating young criminals like adults. However, as a member of the SJRYP, I amended it to say that instead of abolishing it, it should be replacd by another Bill to be written at a future date by the Federal Government. I also added an amendment to state that instead of treating young criminals as adults in the presence of other adults, they should be treated as adults in an institution that'd treat them as adults, but away from reoffenders who are adults. This is because a friend of mine who was a Pastor had told me that too many young people who've committed their offences (who are 18 years of age or older) end up getting even more criminalized by being around repeat offenders and becoming more criminalized when they leave prison.

So ya, anyone have any comments you want to make?

Also, NL First Party Leader Tom Hickey will be speaking with me shortly to better inform me not only about the Federal Youth Criminal Justice Act, but also the Provincial Young Offenders Act, what he did about it while in Cabinet under Former PC Premier Brian Peckford,etc... (more details to come)

Just as on a personal note, I do apologize for neglecting this personal blog of mine: maintaining 'The Official NL First Party Blog' has diverted much of the time I would've spent on this time to that one. But ya, for the last while, i've been going to MUN Christian Fellowship regularly on Friday Nights at 7:30p.m at the 4th Floor of the Engineering Building at MUN (so ya, feel free to check it out!) Also, I went to 'Pathway Community Church' (that hosts church services in the Mt. Pearl Square movie theatre on Sundays at 11am) 2 Sundays ago.

Other than that, i'm just trying to figure out whether i'm fit for Social Work and the degree program, trying to hammer our my back-up plan (a B.A. in Polsc. if I can't get into the very competitive ScWrk faculty right away and/or learn ScWrk isn't for me), trying to arrange to do some testing at MUN to learn what i'm good at and what i'm not good at,etc... So ya, may God be my guide on such matters!

Anyways, i'd appreciate some questions and comments on these 2 articles!