Abstract
The Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) is meant to ensure that only the most serious cases warrant imprisonment. Both in the pre- and post-trial stages of a criminal proceeding, the YCJA contains safeguards designed to divert youth away from correctional institutions and encourage the use of community-based services. Yet, for youth suffering from mental disorders or injuries that cause significant cognitive impairment, these safeguards can be inadequate, detrimental, or simply unavailable. To resolve this shortcoming, this article advocates using mental age, rather than chronological age, as the benchmark for determining criminal responsibility under the YCJA.
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Recommended Citation
Michael Michel, "Mental Age v Chronological Age: Rethinking our Approach to Criminal Responsibility for Developmentally Delayed Young Persons under the Youth Criminal Justice Act" (2022) 31 Dal J Leg Stud 53.