Trial Procedures

 Trials may be held in either a family court or a youth justice court  Trial follow the same rules of evidence and are equally formal  Defence lawyers represent both youths and adults  Youths have access to legal aid

 Youths do not have a choice as to where their trial will be held  No preliminary hearing is held  Judge conducts all trials – no jury trials  Idea is to deal with youth as rapidly as possible and to let them return home

 Public and media can attend hearings but identity of youth must be kept confidential  Names of yr olds convicted of serious crimes can be reported  If considered dangerous, their picture and name can be released to the public

 Youth must be 14 or older at time crime was committed  Must be a serious, violent crime or repeat offender of such crimes  Youths are tried as adults and can receive serious sentences  Transfer hearing is first conducted to see if it is necessary to transfer to adult court

 Crown often applies for transfer if it feels the crime merits adult punishment  Judges decide whether or not case should be transferred  Has led to some controversy  Some judges may be transferring some youths and others may not even though the same crime has been committed  12 and 13 year olds cannot be transferred to adult court regardless of the offence

 Judges are given a variety of sentencing options  Need to look at the needs of the youth, community and victim  Sentence needs to make youth take responsibility for breaking the law  Also needs to focus on rehab – generally considered that youths are more easily rehabilitated than adults

 May be given to a youth for a minor offence, such as theft under $5000  Given if it is in the youth’s best interest  Means they have been found guilty but no conviction is given and no sentence handed down

 Youths may be fined up to $1000 for summary offences – property, tresspassing, driving  Must consider the youth’s ability to pay  Youth, not the parents, must pay

 Youth may be required to pay monetary damages to victim or make up for damage  Personal and Community service  In place of paying fines, judge may order hours of community service  Could also involve personal service to the victim but victim must agree

Judge can sentence a youth to probation for up to two years No limit on the number of conditions