Justice, and your part in it

Word	What it means
Criminal law	Laws against acts that harm society, mostly in the federal Criminal Code. The state prosecutes.
Civil law	Disputes between people or organizations. The loser usually pays compensation rather than being punished.
Crown prosecutor	The lawyer who presents the case against an accused person, on behalf of society.
Beyond a reasonable doubt	The criminal standard of proof: close to certain, not just likely.
Balance of probabilities	The civil standard of proof: more likely than not.
Jury	Twelve citizens who decide the verdict in some criminal trials. They must all agree.
Legal rights	Sections 7 to 14 of the Charter: the rights of anyone dealing with police and courts.
Young person	Under the YCJA, someone aged 12 to 17. Children under 12 cannot be charged with a crime.
Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA)	The federal law for young people accused of crimes, in force since 2003. It replaced the Young Offenders Act.
Extrajudicial measures	Dealing with a young person's offence without a charge: a warning, a caution, or a referral to a program.
Extrajudicial sanctions	A formal program outside court: the young person accepts responsibility and completes conditions such as an apology or volunteer work.
Rehabilitation	Helping an offender change so they do not offend again.
Advocacy	Speaking up for a person or group, such as prisoners or victims of crime.

One event, two cases. An invented driver, racing on a city street, injures a cyclist. The Crown can charge him with dangerous driving: a criminal case, which must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The cyclist can also sue him for her medical costs: a civil case, decided on the balance of probabilities. Because the standards differ, he could be found not guilty of the crime and still lose the lawsuit.

Alberta's courts. Criminal cases begin in the Alberta Court of Justice, which also hears most youth cases. Jury trials and the most serious cases go to the Court of King's Bench. Appeals go to the Court of Appeal of Alberta, and a few to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Legal rights protect everyone, guilty or not, because nobody can know in advance who is innocent: no unreasonable search (section 8); being told why you are arrested and getting a lawyer without delay (section 10); being presumed innocent and tried within a reasonable time (section 11); no cruel and unusual punishment (section 12).

Jury duty. Most adult citizens living in Alberta can be summoned, and a summons must be answered, though a judge can excuse real hardship. Juries exist so that guilt is decided by members of the community, not only by officials.

Knowing the law. “I didn't know it was illegal” is not a defence in Canada, which puts a responsibility on every citizen. Witnesses matter too: without people willing to testify under oath, most cases could not be proved.

Advocacy. The John Howard Society and the Elizabeth Fry Society help people accused or convicted of crimes return to the community. MADD Canada pushes for tougher impaired-driving laws. Many Alberta communities have youth justice committees: volunteers who meet a young person who has offended and agree on how to make things right. These groups often disagree with each other, which is part of how the system hears more than one side.

What it is for. The YCJA aims to protect the public by holding young people accountable through consequences that mean something, by helping them change, and by preventing crime. It tries to keep first and minor offences out of court.

Worked through. An invented student, Jordan, 15, takes a $40 game controller from a store. It is his first offence.

• An officer can warn him, or refer him to a program: extrajudicial measures, and no charge.
• Or he can be offered extrajudicial sanctions: he admits it, meets a youth justice committee, apologizes to the owner and does twenty hours of volunteer work. No trial.
• If he kept offending, or the offence were violent, he would be charged and go to youth court. Custody is mostly limited to violent or repeated offences.

Other differences from adults. A young person's identity is generally not published, a parent or other adult can be present during police questioning, and youth records can be destroyed after a set time. For the most serious offences, the Crown can seek an adult sentence for someone who was 14 or older — which is where most public argument about the Act happens.

Source. Two invented speakers. Speaker I, a store owner: “The teenager who broke my window got a warning and a volunteer project. I paid for the glass. Where was the consequence?” Speaker II, a youth worker: “Most teens who get in trouble once never do it again if you keep them in school and out of custody.”

Reading it. Speaker I, a victim, wants meaningful consequences. Speaker II stresses rehabilitation. Both are aims of the Act, so they are really arguing about which should count for more. A question asking which principle Speaker II's view most reflects wants rehabilitation. The tempting wrong answer is “protecting a young person's identity”: a real feature of the Act, but not what she said. Notice, too, that “most teens” is a claim that could be checked, not a fact the source proves.

• Mixing up criminal and civil, and their standards of proof.
• Thinking the YCJA means no consequences. Sanctions are consequences, and serious cases go to court.
• Getting the ages wrong. 12 to 17. Under 12 cannot be charged.
• Swapping measures and sanctions. Measures are warnings and referrals; sanctions are a formal program after accepting responsibility.