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Young Offenders ActThe Young Offenders Act was a 1984 act of the Parliament of Canada, now obsolete, that regulated the criminal prosecution of Canadian youths. The act was repealed in 2002 with the passing of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. The act established the national age of criminal responsibility at 12 years old, and said that youths can only be prosecuted if they break a law of the Criminal Code (previously, youths could be prosecuted or punished solely on the grounds that it was in the youth's "best interests"). The act also indicated that the rights established in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms apply to youths as well. Controversy dogged the act for many years. Many felt that the act's limit on a three-year detention sentence for youths was overly lax, and allowed youths to get unreasonably light sentences for murder or sexual assault. This maximum was repeatedly increased, until 1996 it was extended to a maximum of 10 years. That same year a provision was also made to allow 16-year-olds to be tried as adults in certain cases. Critics ruled this was "too harsh," as it made youths possible victims of life sentences. Because of the vagueness of many parts of the legislation, under the Young Offenders Act, Canada's rate of youth incarceration became one of the highest in the Western world, surpassing the United States, Australia, and most of Europe. A section about the Juvenile Delinquents Act should be here.
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