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Young Offenders Lawyers Greater Toronto Area (GTA)
If you or your child was arrested for a crime as a young offender in the Greater Toronto Area, contact a GTA criminal lawyer.
Defending You Against the Young Offenders Charge in the GTA
Canada’s criminal justice system treats young individuals differently than adults. Understandably, underage persons often do not have the ability to:
- Make mature judgments of adults;
- Control their impulses; and
- Realize the consequences of their actions.
For this reason, young offender cases are processed under a special law in Canada. As a rule of thumb, the possible penalties that a youth offender may receive are not as severe as those for adult offenders.
If you or your child is in trouble with the law, do not hesitate to contact a GTA young offender defence lawyers at Lawyers From The Six to protect your child’s freedom and ensure that the criminal charges do not follow them into their adulthood.
Who is a young offender?
Under the Criminal Code of Canada, a young offender is a child between the ages of 12 and 17 who commits a criminal offence. Rather than being tried as an adult, a young offender is prosecuted under the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA).
Although young offenders are not tried as adults in Canada, they can still face significant penalties for serious offences.
What are the young offender charges?
There are different types of offences that encompass the young offender charges in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), including:
- Driving offences
- Drug crimes
- Theft and robbery
- Weapons-related offences
- Violent crimes, including assault, sexual assault, aggravated assault, murder, manslaughter, and others
What are the penalties for young offender charges?
In most cases, young people who commit crimes are dealt with by extrajudicial measures outside the formal court process. These measures include:
- 1. Police warning
- 2. Crown caution
- 3. Police caution
- 4. Extrajudicial sanctions
- 5. Referrals to community programs
Also, judges have the discretion to impose the following types of punishment: :
- Placing the young offender under the supervision of their parents;
- Enforcing a curfew order requiring the young offender to be at home by a certain time at night;
- Ordering the young offender to pay a fine;
- Ordering the young person to perform community service;
- Ordering Intensive Support and Supervision to monitor the offender’s behaviour; and
- Requiring the youth offender to attend programs.
If the young offender poses a danger to the public and there is no other way of dealing with the offender, the judge has the discretion to place the underage individual in a detention center or foster home.
If your child was arrested for a crime in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), speak with our criminal defence lawyers at Lawyers From The Six as soon as possible. We will help you navigate the criminal justice system for young offenders and defend your child at all costs. Call 647-830-3083 to discuss your situation.
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