The YOUNG OFFENDERS ACT of CANADA

Prepared by Philip Rosen, Senior Analyst Revised 25 January 2000.

Joe Warmington, a columnist with the Toronto Sun, entitled his

January 4, 2008 column: Enough of this “hug-a-thug” approach.

It is not only his “trade-mark hat” that is on right; he seems to have

his “head screwed on right” also. Yet I have to ask a few questions

of him.

What took you so long to pen this well-written, hard-hitting article?

No offence meant by the question!

Where were you when the formerly only mischievous youth were

preparing to graduate to full-fledged criminals?

Was it your editor, who prevented you from expressing your views,

that were and still are shared by your readers, the “silent majority” of

the (once great) City of Toronto and Canada as a whole? Or, was it

the “politically correct” group of bleeding hearts that dominate the

political arena as of late?

Why is it that that an opposition politician is the only one who has the  

intestinal fortitude to proclaim that the (existing) law goes overboard

to protect the young punks?

Enough of the questions, although there are hundreds, if not thousands

that beg for answers. We, as the (still) free people of North America,

have to squeeze a part of our “elected” politicians’ anatomy that will

get their attention of the electorate’s will, even demands, to reclaim our

country from the criminal elements imported from abroad lately.

At least, this is how I feel.

To do my bit as a concerned taxpayer, I sent a message to Mr. Warmington

suggesting a possible solution to the youth crime and the existing “Young

Offenders Act” as it is, which I expressed in my book, WALK 20 MILES

IN MY MOCCASINS:

“If under-age offenders cannot be tried in adult court, not even

for indictable offences, make their parents liable, to the full extent

of the law, for their children’s action!

           If under-age bullies cannot be deterred, deter the parents.”

I have cast out the bait; will anyone have the political will to take it?