If the court does not believe that the young person understands this, then the court will order that a lawyer be appointed for the youth. This means that the youth justice system must make sure that a lawyer is appointed to represent the young person. If a youth’s family cannot or will not pay for a lawyer, then the court can order that a lawyer be appointed for the youth through Legal Aid Alberta.
A young person can also apply to Legal Aid Alberta for a lawyer without having it ordered by the court. The youth or parents or guardians may hire and pay for that lawyer. In order to get help from Legal Aid Alberta to pay the lawyer’s fees, the youth’s family has to “qualify” for such legal help, meaning that the family cannot earn over a certain amount of money each year. If a youth qualifies for legal aid, then Legal Aid Alberta will appoint a lawyer for the youth.
One of the key goals of the Youth Criminal Justice Act is to increase the use of non-court responses to less serious youth crimes. These extrajudicial measures, as explained in the Act, mean that youth avoid going through the formal court process.
Extrajudicial or non-court measures allow early intervention with youth, and give each community the chance to respond to youth crime in their own unique way. Depending on the extrajudicial measure chosen, the youth may get the chance to repair the harm that he or she has caused to the victim. The youth may also participate in a community conference or meet with community members who volunteer on a youth justice committee to determine the appropriate consequences for their illegal behaviour.
When youth are kept out of the court system by using extrajudicial measures, this allows the court to focus on more serious youth crimes. The YCJA requires police officers and crown prosecutors to use discretion, and to make non-court measures the normal and expected result when the offence is less serious.
The extrajudicial measures section of the Act opens with key principles to guide how extrajudicial measures are used (section 4).
The first principle is that it is presumed that extrajudicial measures are adequate or sufficient to hold a young person accountable for breaking the law if: