I am writing this essay on the Young Offenders Act for a few reasons. One being that I am a special agent sent from the future keep the fate of this Grade 11 English credit comfortably in Justin Faviere’s upcoming report card.
Secondly, I am trying to educate people who may not be aware of the benefits of the Act, or simply disagree with my opinion that the Young Offenders Act is a crucial part of our judicial system, regardless of it’s imperfections. And last but not least, so I can educate myself on other people’s ideas as to why they think that we should not have a Young Offenders Act. At the beginning of my freefall known as ‘teenhood’ I commited many crimes, and participated in many criminal activities. However, as I think back to them now, I regret each and every one. I have had sleep overs in juvenile jail, and worked many community service hours. I wish that I had never participated in these criminal acts, however, luckily to the young offenders act, I was given the chance to put my stupidity behind me and have my criminal record deleted now that I am the age of majority, and not have the burden of my childish mistakes lingering over my shoulder for the rest of my life.
If there was no such thing as the young offenders act, I would most likely be turned down for most jobs, for I know as a fact, that my work place at the present time (and many others) wouldn’t hire someone with a criminal record. I ask everyone reading this, not to think of this as only law. I would like all of you to think of the youths as individual people, that have a bright future ahead of them, after they make the decision to change and mature to the next step of the game of life. Though the individual may be currently stuck in the brain cloud of teenhood, as most people are at some point over those trying years, I am a firm believer in the idea that anyone can change if they want to and the Young offenders Act gives those people that chance to put it completely behind them.
I definitely think that punishments should fit their crimes and their are some that need to be a little more leanient and some that need to be toughened up. Murder for instance, I don’t believe should have a spot in the Young Offenders Act. I Think that if a person knowingly commits murder they have chosen someone elses fate for them and should not have the luxury of a second chance, the person they killed didn’t. I myself being a rascal at one time, and still being a teenager, know as a fact, that there is no hope that any laws, government agencies or majestic powers will ever produce a one hundred percent success rate, because as we all know, there are some people who will not mature and change their ways.
I believe that as time goes on it is essential to modify and re-evaluate some laws, because of the undeniable fact that every generation will have a different outlook on our world and people react in different ways to cope with their environment as that is human nature. I believe that if our country decided to get rid of the Y. O. A.
, It would lock a door that so many people in the past, present and future, need to be able to open so they can find that thing called ‘hope’. Without hope, there is no reason for someone to change because they can not foresee any better life for themselves. So for anyone who is still of the opinion that the Young Offenders Act should be abolished or a new one should be put in place, I would like to ask what you expect to achieve by spending countless amounts of our tax payer’s dollars and hundreds, if not thousands of hours behind a desk trying to re-organize a system that has never been organized and most likely never will be? Maybe you have had a personal experience as a victim of a young offenders crime and areallowing it to anger you enough to have a somewhat vengeful opinion towards this subject, which is more than understandable. All I am asking is that you consider my personal experience as a young offender and also try to understand that you cannot generalise any group of people by ethnic background, economic status or in this case, age or in any other way, because we are all individuals.Social Issues
