Legal Status Of Children Essay Research Paper

Legal Status Of Children Essay, Research Paper

Introduction

The legal status of children in society is in itself a complicated issue. Children are the most vulnerable members of society. The Canadian legal system protects the children through established institutions and laws. These laws and institutions are enforced within both the legal system and the community to ensure that the rights of the children are protected. Many organizations exist in Canadian society to promote public awareness and active involvement of the community. The Canadian legal system has designed conceivable means to protect the legal status of children in Canada through institutions and laws, enforcement of these laws, and active public awareness and involvement.

Argument One

The Canadian legal system has institutions and laws which protects the legal status of children. The United Nations (Talos, 1990:513), the charter of International Human Rights (Talos, 1990:576-80), and Canada s Charter of Rights and Freedoms are examples of existing institutional bodies that are working to ensure a more positive legal status of children within societies. In 1989 the United Nations (UN) adopted the Conventions of the Right of the Child, which is an international legal document setting out standards that must be achieved by the governments that sign it. (Exploitation of Children, Ennew, p.26)This is a legal document that establishes the basic rights of every child and outlines standards surrounding issues such as family care, food and clean water, health care, free education, safety from abuse and other important problems faced by children. By creating such a document, children can be protected only if the correct laws are applied within their respective communities. Each country that signs on is obligated to impose laws that enforce the 54 articles of the convention.

support 2

Another document that recognizes the importance of documenting laws that protects children is the charter of International Human Rights. Article ten section three states that special measures of protection and assistance should be taken on behalf of all children and young persons without any discrimination and adequate standard of living is everyone s right (Talos, 1990:579). Documents such as these are important because they create laws that acknowledges that children have special needs and clearly differentiates between the legal status of adults and children.

support 3

Canada s charter of rights and freedoms is a Canadian body of laws that embodies the basic principles outlined in the two charters described above. However, the Charter of Rights and freedoms does not acknowledge the special needs of children or the differences between children and adult situations.

Argument Two

There are many ways to enforce institutional laws that have been created to uphold the legal status of Canada s children. The Juvenile Delinquents act (J.D.A.), The Young Offenders Act (Y.O.A), and an alternative justice system are only a few institutional laws that have helped shape the status of today s children. The Juvenile Delinquents Act (J.D.A.), was passed in 1908 in the best interests of the child accused of committing a crime (Marron, 1992:65). The J.D.A reflected beliefs that children are innocent only misguided, misdirected and in need of aid, encouragement, help and assistance (Talos, 1990:436), for the crimes they have committed requiring guidance and treatment, unlike adult criminals who deserved to be punished. As a result of this philosophy the children were viewed as innocents who simply needed to be saved from the corruption of the adult world through the intervention of kindly, firm, and judicious juvenile courts which acted in a sense as parents for society s delinquent children (Talos, 1990:436-7). The J.D.A. was founded on the strong belief that family was the repository for all values of social well being, behavior, religious conviction, respect for the law and benevolent attitude towards fellow beings (Marron, 1992:67). It was presumed that the juvenile courts, the parents of society s delinquent children, were acting in the best interests of the children to uphold their legal status. Little attention was paid to affording juvenile offenders the same sort of rights and procedures in justice as offered to adults. Children s rights activists criticized the wide ranged power given to the juvenile courts under the Juvenile Delinquents Act (Talos, 1990:436). This criticism was reinforced by the arrival of the Charter in 1982, section 15 of which guarantees equality before the law without discrimination based on age (Talos, 1990:437). As values and morals changed, so did the serious levels of criminal conduct by a newer wave of intelligent criminals. Society began to believe the J.D.A to be naive in accordance to the new criminal activities, and expressed a need to be as protected from juvenile offenders as it was from adult offenders. Furthermore, society expressed a need for youthful offenders to assume a more personal responsibility for their anti-social behavior (Talos, 1990:436). The Juvenile Delinquents Act was successful in establishing a new legal status for children in Canadian societies. As society changed so did the children s preconceived status, hence creating The Young Offenders Act (Talos, 1990:437 55).

support 2

The Y.O.A. represent