Youth Charges
Guelph Youth Criminal Defence Lawyer - Perrin Valli. Dedicated to your Defence.
If you are under 18 and facing criminal charges in Guelph, Perrin Valli is a highly-skilled and experienced criminal lawyer who will work hard to make sure you have the best defence.
Criminal charges laid for offences committed when the accused is under 18 are prosecuted and tried by special rules, different than those used for adults facing criminal charges.
The Youth Criminal Justice Act governs the prosecution and trial of criminal charges laid against people under 18.
The different rules are meant to compensate for the fact that young people have not fully matured cognitively and as a result, that their moral culpability for criminal behaviour is less than that for adults. Further the different rules are meant to protect young people from the baggage and stigma that is often associated with a criminal record. Instead of resulting in a permanent criminal record, findings of guilt under the Youth Criminal Justice Act result in a “Youth Record” which is accessible only in certain circumstances and after a period of time can be “sealed’ such that access to this record becomes extremely limited.
Nevertheless, a Youth Record is a serious consequence for any individual and can impact educational, volunteer and professional opportunities. Further a Youth Record can be transformed into a permanent adult criminal record in some circumstances.
Further, the consequences of a finding of guilt under the Youth Criminal Justice Act are real and serious and can include jail at a youth custodial facility.
For these reasons, any youth criminal charge should be taken seriously.
You need to make sure you have a the right lawyer to assist you with your youth charges in Guelph.
How to Apply for Legal Aid
If you have been charged and are concerned about being able to afford a lawyer to help you with your case, in Ontario, you can apply to Legal Aid for help. Legal Aid Ontario issues vouchers to people charged with criminal charges. These vouchers, called “legal aid certificates” cover the entirety of the cost of the services of a criminal defence lawyer, with legal aid compensating the lawyer who accepts the voucher. Legal Aid Ontario uses two primary factors to determine eligibility for a voucher: financial need and likelihood of jail if the person seeking the voucher were to be found guilty of the charges he or she is facing.
To commence an application for a Legal Aid certificate you can either attend in person to the Legal Aid office inside the Guelph Courthouse at 36 Wyndham St S. in Guelph or you can apply by telephone by calling Legal Aid Ontario at 416-979-1446 or toll-free at 1-800-668-8258.
Legal Aid will require information from you about financial circumstances, the charges you are facing. You may not have all the information required to complete a legal aid application until after your first court appearance or until after you have received the initial disclosure package from the prosecution. You can request this disclosure package in advance of your first court appearance be calling the Guelph Crown Attorney’s office at 519-822-1031.
I am under 18. I applied for Legal Aid but was denied. I can’t afford to pay for a lawyer. What should I do?
Legal Aid denies most applications brought by young people for a certificate.
Nevertheless, even if your application for a legal aid certificate has been denied, the Youth Criminal Justice Act provides a special process for young people to apply to the Court for financial assistance retaining a lawyer. Section 25 of the Youth Criminal Justice Act provides that the Court can order Legal Aid to provide a certificate to a young person facing criminal charges.
Perrin Valli frequently assists young people apply to the Court for an Order that Legal Aid grant them a certificate to be able to have a criminal defence lawyer.
Feel free to contact him to discuss whether he can assist you with your case.
Do teenagers get sent to real jail?
Young people arrested and either awaiting or having been denied bail are held in youth detention centres. Further young people found guilty in Canada under the Youth Criminal Justice Act can be sentenced to serve a jail-like sentence at youth custodial facilities. In some very narrow and rare cases, a young person can be sentenced as an adult to serve a jail sentence in an adult custodial facility.
Youth detention or custodial facilities are categorised as either open-custody facilities or closed custody (sometimes called secured custody) facilities. Closed custody is similar in nature to traditional concepts of jail with physical barriers, significant restriction on movement and close supervision by staff. The nature of an Open Custody facility can very greatly but in all circumstances, involve less restrictions than close custody. For example, some residential addiction treatment facilities are approved as Open Custody facilities, and young people serving a sentence in Open custody can do so while completing a treatment program.
In Ontario, whether a young person in pre-trial detention is held in an open custody or a closed custody facility depends on the circumstances including the nature of the offence with which the young person is charged and whether or not the young person has escaped or attempted to escape while at an open custody detention facility.
Sentencing under the Youth Criminal Justice Act
Sentencing for young people found guilty of criminal charges under the Youth Criminal Justice Act is different than sentencing for adults. The Youth Criminal Justices Act provides that judge can sentence a young person to sentences including:
Reprimand - a serious lecture from a judge
Absolute discharge or discharge with conditions - a discharge under the Youth Criminal Justice Act means a finding of guilt and an entry on a youth record for the offence(s). In the case of a discharge with conditions, the offending youth is placed on probation-like conditions, often supervised by a probation officer.
Fine - payment to court of a financial penalty
Compensation or Restitution - payment of monies to the victim
Personal Service - a number of hours of work towards remediating the harm or damage caused through the offence
Community Service work
Prohibition order - an order prohibiting the offender from having certain things or ordering the offender to forfeit certain things to the Crown.
Probation - an order requiring the offender to do certain things and not do other things. The order and its requirements are supervised by a Youth probation worker. Often probation includes terms requiring counselling and regular meetings with the probation officer.
Custody and Supervision order - a period of time in a youth custodial facility to be followed by a period of supervision.
Deferred Custody and Supervision - an order meaning the offender spends a period of time under supervision in the community and subject to a number of rules and conditions. A breach of any of these rules or conditions can result in a change to the conditions wchih can include the offender to spend the remainder of the sentence in custody.
An Adult Sentence - In some very narrow and rare cases, a young person can be sentenced as an adult to serve a jail sentence in an adult custodial facility.
When deciding what an appropriate sentence is, the Youth Criminal Justice Act directs the sentencing judge to create a sentence directed at holding the young person accountable while encouraging his or her rehabilitation. Further, the sentencing judge must consider the following factors (s. 38(3)):
(a) the degree of participation by the young person in the commission of the offence
(b) the harm done to victims and whether it was intentional or reasonably foreseeable
(c) any reparation made by the young person to the victim or the community;
(d) the time spent in detention by the young person as a result of the offence;
(e) the previous findings of guilt of the young person; and
(f) any other aggravating and mitigating circumstances related to the young person or the offence that are relevant to the purpose and principles set out in this section.
Lastly, the Youth Criminal Justice Act provides that a sentencing judge can only sentence a young person to a period of custody where (s. 38):
(a) the young person has committed a violent offence;
(b) the young person has failed to comply with non-custodial sentences;
(c) the young person has committed an indictable offence for which an adult would be liable to imprisonment for a term of more than two years and has a history that indicates a pattern of findings of guilt under this Act or the Young Offenders Act, chapter Y-1 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985; or
(d) in exceptional cases where the young person has committed an indictable offence, the aggravating circumstances of the offence are such that the imposition of a non-custodial sentence would be inconsistent with the purpose and principles set out in section 38.