Miscellaneous Authority of a Youth Court Justice
| This page was last substantively updated or reviewed January 2020. (Rev. # 95741) |
General Principles
14
[omitted (1) and (2)]
- Prosecution prohibited
(3) Unless the Attorney General and the young person agree, no extrajudicial measures shall be taken or judicial proceedings commenced under this Act in respect of an offence after the end of the time limit set out in any other Act of Parliament or any regulation made under it for the institution of proceedings in respect of that offence.
- Continuation of proceedings
(4) Extrajudicial measures taken or judicial proceedings commenced under this Act against a young person may be continued under this Act after the person attains the age of eighteen years.
- Young persons over the age of eighteen years
(5) This Act applies to persons eighteen years old or older who are alleged to have committed an offence while a young person.
- Powers of youth justice court judge
(6) For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act, a youth justice court judge is a justice and a provincial court judge and has the jurisdiction and powers of a summary conviction court under the Criminal Code.
- Powers of a judge of a superior court
(7) A judge of a superior court of criminal jurisdiction, when deemed to be a youth justice court judge for the purpose of a proceeding, retains the jurisdiction and powers of a superior court of criminal jurisdiction.
2002, c. 1, s. 14; 2015, c. 20, ss. 32, 36, c. 29, s. 14; 2019, c. 13, s. 159.
- Referral to child welfare agency
35 In addition to any order that it is authorized to make, a youth justice court may, at any stage of proceedings against a young person, refer the young person to a child welfare agency for assessment to determine whether the young person is in need of child welfare services.
- Powers of substitute youth justice court judge
131 (1) A youth justice court judge who acts in the place of another youth justice court judge under subsection 669.2(1) (continuation of proceedings) of the Criminal Code shall
- (a) if an adjudication has been made, proceed to sentence the young person or make the order that, in the circumstances, is authorized by law; or
- (b) if no adjudication has been made, recommence the trial as if no evidence had been taken.
- Transcript of evidence already given
(2) A youth justice court judge who recommences a trial under paragraph (1)(b) may, if the parties consent, admit into evidence a transcript of any evidence already given in the case.
- Designation of youth justice court
165 (1) Any court established or designated as a youth court for the purposes of the Young Offenders Act, chapter Y-1 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, is deemed, as of the coming into force of this section, to have been established or designated as a youth justice court for the purposes of this Act.
- Designation of youth justice court judges
(2) Any person appointed to be a judge of the youth court for the purposes of the Young Offenders Act, chapter Y-1 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, is deemed, as of the coming into force of this section, to have been appointed as a judge of the youth justice court for the purposes of this Act.
- Designation of provincial directors and youth workers
(3) Any person, group or class of persons or body appointed or designated as a provincial director for the purposes of the Young Offenders Act, chapter Y-1 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, and any person appointed or designated as a youth worker for the purposes of that Act is deemed, as of the coming into force of this section, to have been appointed or designated as a provincial director or youth worker, as the case may be, for the purposes of this Act.
- Designation of review boards and youth justice committees
(4) Any review board established or designated for the purposes of the Young Offenders Act, chapter Y-1 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, and any youth justice committee established for the purposes of that Act is deemed, as of the coming into force of this section, to have been established or designated as a review board or a youth justice committee, as the case may be, for the purposes of this Act.
- Alternative measures continued as extrajudicial sanctions
(5) Any program of alternative measures authorized for the purposes of the Young Offenders Act, chapter Y-1 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, is deemed, as of the coming into force of this section, to be a program of extrajudicial sanctions authorized for the purposes of this Act.
- Designation of places of temporary detention and youth custody
(6) Subject to subsection (7), any place that was designated as a place of temporary detention or open custody for the purposes of the Young Offenders Act, chapter Y-1 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, and any place or facility designated as a place of secure custody for the purposes of that Act is deemed, as of the coming into force of this section, to have been designated for the purposes of this Act as
- (a) in the case of a place of temporary detention, a place of temporary detention; and
- (b) in the case of a place of open custody or secure custody, a youth custody facility.
- Exception
(7) If the lieutenant governor in council of a province makes an order under section 88 that the power to make determinations of the level of custody for young persons and to review those determinations be exercised in accordance with the Young Offenders Act, chapter Y-1 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, the designation of any place as a place of open custody or secure custody for the purposes of that Act remains in force for the purposes of section 88, subject to revocation or amendment of the designation.
- Designation of other persons
(8) Any person designated as a clerk of the youth court for the purposes of the Young Offenders Act, chapter Y-1 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, or any person or group of persons who were designated under that Act to carry out specified functions and duties are deemed, as of the coming into force of this section, to have been designated as a clerk of the youth justice court, or to carry out the same functions and duties, as the case may be, under this Act.
Exclusion from Court
- Exclusion from Hearing
132 (1) Subject to subsection (2), a court or justice before whom proceedings are carried out under this Act may exclude any person from all or part of the proceedings if the court or justice considers that the person’s presence is unnecessary to the conduct of the proceedings and the court or justice is of the opinion that
- (a) any evidence or information presented to the court or justice would be seriously injurious or seriously prejudicial to
- (i) the young person who is being dealt with in the proceedings,
- (ii) a child or young person who is a witness in the proceedings, or
- (iii) a child or young person who is aggrieved by or the victim of the offence charged in the proceedings; or
- (b) it would be in the interest of public morals, the maintenance of order or the proper administration of justice to exclude any or all members of the public from the court room.
- Exception
(2) Subject to section 650 (accused to be present) of the Criminal Code and except if it is necessary for the purposes of subsection 34(9) (nondisclosure of medical or psychological report) of this Act, a court or justice may not, under subsection (1), exclude from proceedings under this Act
- (a) the prosecutor;
- (b) the young person who is being dealt with in the proceedings, the counsel or a parent of the young person or any adult assisting the young person under subsection 25(7);
- (c) the provincial director or his or her agent; or
- (d) the youth worker to whom the young person’s case has been assigned.
- Exclusion after adjudication or during review
(3) A youth justice court, after it has found a young person guilty of an offence, or a youth justice court or a review board, during a review, may, in its discretion, exclude from the court or from a hearing of the review board any person other than the following, when it is being presented with information the knowledge of which might, in its opinion, be seriously injurious or seriously prejudicial to the young person:
- (a) the young person or his or her counsel;
- (b) the provincial director or his or her agent;
- (c) the youth worker to whom the young person’s case has been assigned; and
- (d) the Attorney General.
- Exception
(4) The exception set out in paragraph (3)(a) is subject to subsection 34(9) (nondisclosure of medical or psychological report) of this Act and section 650 (accused to be present) of the Criminal Code.
Disqualification
- Disqualification of judge
130 (1) Subject to subsection (2), a youth justice court judge who, prior to an adjudication in respect of a young person charged with an offence, examines a pre-sentence report made in respect of the young person in connection with that offence or has, after a guilty plea or a finding of guilt, heard submissions as to sentence and then there has been a change of plea, shall not in any capacity conduct or continue the trial of the young person for the offence and shall transfer the case to another judge to be dealt with according to law.
- Exception
(2) A youth justice court judge may, in the circumstances referred to in subsection (1), with the consent of the young person and the prosecutor, conduct or continue the trial of the young person if the judge is satisfied that he or she has not been predisposed by a guilty plea or finding of guilt, or by information contained in the pre-sentence report or submissions as to sentence.