Youth Criminal Justice Act (S.C. 2002, c. 1)

Marginal note:Deemed election

121 For the purposes of sections 119 and 120, if no election is made in respect of an offence that may be prosecuted by indictment or proceeded with by way of summary conviction, the Attorney General is deemed to have elected to proceed with the offence as an offence punishable on summary conviction.

Marginal note:Disclosure of information and copies of record

122 A person who is required or authorized to be given access to a record under section 119, 120, 123 or 124 may be given any information contained in the record and may be given a copy of any part of the record.

Marginal note:Where records may be made available

• 123 (1) A youth justice court judge may, on application by a person after the end of the applicable period set out in subsection 119(2), order that the person be given access to all or part of a record kept under sections 114 to 116 or that a copy of the record or part be given to that person,

  • (a) if the youth justice court judge is satisfied that

    • (i) the person has a valid and substantial interest in the record or part,

    • (ii) it is necessary for access to be given to the record or part in the interest of the proper administration of justice, and

    • (iii) disclosure of the record or part or the information in it is not prohibited under any other Act of Parliament or the legislature of a province; or

  • (b) if the youth court judge is satisfied that access to the record or part is desirable in the public interest for research or statistical purposes.

• Marginal note:Restriction for paragraph (1)(a)

  (2) Paragraph (1)(a) applies in respect of a record relating to a particular young person or to a record relating to a class of young persons only if the identity of young persons in the class at the time of the making of the application referred to in that paragraph cannot reasonably be ascertained and the disclosure of the record is necessary for the purpose of investigating any offence that a person is suspected on reasonable grounds of having committed against a young person while the young person is, or was, serving a sentence.

• Marginal note:Notice

  (3) Subject to subsection (4), an application for an order under paragraph (1)(a) in respect of a record shall not be heard unless the person who makes the application has given the young person to whom the record relates and the person or body that has possession of the record at least five days notice in writing of the application, and the young person and the person or body that has possession have had a reasonable opportunity to be heard.

• Marginal note:Where notice not required

  (4) A youth justice court judge may waive the requirement in subsection (3) to give notice to a young person when the judge is of the opinion that

  • (a) to insist on the giving of the notice would frustrate the application; or

  • (b) reasonable efforts have not been successful in finding the young person.

• Marginal note:Use of record

  (5) In any order under subsection (1), the youth justice court judge shall set out the purposes for which the record may be used.

• Marginal note:Disclosure for research or statistical purposes

  (6) When access to a record is given to any person under paragraph (1)(b), that person may subsequently disclose information contained in the record, but shall not disclose the information in any form that would reasonably be expected to identify the young person to whom it relates.

Marginal note:Access to record by young person

124 Despite any other provision of this Act, a young person to whom a record relates and their counsel may have access to the record at any time.

Disclosure of Information in a Record

Marginal note:Disclosure by peace officer during investigation

• 125 (1) A peace officer may disclose to any person any information in a record kept under section 114 (court records) or 115 (police records) that it is necessary to disclose in the conduct of the investigation of an offence.

• Marginal note:Disclosure by Attorney General

  (2) The Attorney General may, in the course of a proceeding under this Act or any other Act of Parliament, disclose the following information in a record kept under section 114 (court reports) or 115 (police records):

  • (a) to a person who is a co-accused with the young person in respect of the offence for which the record is kept, any information contained in the record; and

  • (b) to an accused in a proceeding, if the record is in respect of a witness in the proceeding, information that identifies the witness as a young person who has been dealt with under this Act.

• Marginal note:Information that may be disclosed to a foreign state

  (3) The Attorney General or a peace officer may disclose to the Minister of Justice of Canada information in a record that is kept under section 114 (court records) or 115 (police records) to the extent that it is necessary to deal with a request to or by a foreign state under the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Act, or for the purposes of any extradition matter under the Extradition Act. The Minister of Justice of Canada may disclose the information to the foreign state in respect of which the request was made, or to which the extradition matter relates, as the case may be.

• Marginal note:Disclosure to insurance company

  (4) A peace officer may disclose to an insurance company information in a record that is kept under section 114 (court records) or 115 (police records) for the purpose of investigating a claim arising out of an offence committed or alleged to have been committed by the young person to whom the record relates.

• Marginal note:Preparation of reports

  (5) The provincial director or a youth worker may disclose information contained in a record if the disclosure is necessary for procuring information that relates to the preparation of a report required by this Act.

• Marginal note:Schools and others

  (6) The provincial director, a youth worker, the Attorney General, a peace officer or any other person engaged in the provision of services to young persons may disclose to any professional or other person engaged in the supervision or care of a young person — including a representative of any school board or school or any other educational or training institution — any information contained in a record kept under sections 114 to 116 if the disclosure is necessary

  • (a) to ensure compliance by the young person with an authorization under section 91 or an order of the youth justice court;

  • (b) to ensure the safety of staff, students or other persons; or

  • (c) to facilitate the rehabilitation of the young person.

• Marginal note:Information to be kept separate

  (7) A person to whom information is disclosed under subsection (6) shall

  • (a) keep the information separate from any other record of the young person to whom the information relates;

  • (b) ensure that no other person has access to the information except if authorized under this Act, or if necessary for the purposes of subsection (6); and

  • (c) destroy their copy of the record when the information is no longer required for the purpose for which it was disclosed.

• Marginal note:Time limit

  (8) No information may be disclosed under this section after the end of the applicable period set out in subsection 119(2) (period of access to records).

Marginal note:Records in the custody, etc., of archivists

126 When records originally kept under sections 114 to 116 are under the custody or control of the Librarian and Archivist of Canada or the archivist for any province, that person may disclose any information contained in the records to any other person if

• (a) a youth justice court judge is satisfied that the disclosure is desirable in the public interest for research or statistical purposes; and

• (b) the person to whom the information is disclosed undertakes not to disclose the information in any form that could reasonably be expected to identify the young person to whom it relates.

Marginal note:Disclosure with court order

• 127 (1) The youth justice court may, on the application of the provincial director, the Attorney General or a peace officer, make an order permitting the applicant to disclose to the person or persons specified by the court any information about a young person that is specified, if the court is satisfied that the disclosure is necessary, having regard to the following circumstances:

  • (a) the young person has been found guilty of an offence involving serious personal injury;

  • (b) the young person poses a risk of serious harm to persons; and

  • (c) the disclosure of the information is relevant to the avoidance of that risk.

• Marginal note:Opportunity to be heard

  (2) Subject to subsection (3), before making an order under subsection (1), the youth justice court shall give the young person, a parent of the young person and the Attorney General an opportunity to be heard.

• Marginal note:Ex parte application

  (3) An application under subsection (1) may be made ex parte by the Attorney General where the youth justice court is satisfied that reasonable efforts have been made to locate the young person and that those efforts have not been successful.

• Marginal note:Time limit

  (4) No information may be disclosed under subsection (1) after the end of the applicable period set out in subsection 119(2) (period of access to records).

Disposition or Destruction of Records and Prohibition on Use and Disclosure

Marginal note:Effect of end of access periods

• 128 (1) Subject to sections 123, 124 and 126, after the end of the applicable period set out in section 119 or 120 no record kept under sections 114 to 116 may be used for any purpose that would identify the young person to whom the record relates as a young person dealt with under this Act or the Young Offenders Act, chapter Y-1 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985.

• Marginal note:Disposal of records

  (2) Subject to paragraph 125(7)(c), any record kept under sections 114 to 116, other than a record kept under subsection 115(3), may, in the discretion of the person or body keeping the record, be destroyed or transmitted to the Librarian and Archivist of Canada or the archivist for any province, at any time before or after the end of the applicable period set out in section 119.

• Marginal note:Disposal of R.C.M.P. records

  (3) All records kept under subsection 115(3) shall be destroyed or, if the Librarian and Archivist of Canada requires it, transmitted to the Librarian and Archivist, at the end of the applicable period set out in section 119 or 120.

• Marginal note:Purging CPIC

  (4) The Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police shall remove a record from the automated criminal conviction records retrieval system maintained by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police at the end of the applicable period referred to in section 119; however, information relating to a prohibition order made under an Act of Parliament or the legislature of a province shall be removed only at the end of the period for which the order is in force.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (5) Despite subsections (1), (2) and (4), an entry that is contained in a system maintained by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to match crime scene information and that relates to an offence committed or alleged to have been committed by a young person shall be dealt with in the same manner as information that relates to an offence committed by an adult for which a record suspension ordered under the Criminal Records Act is in effect.

• Marginal note:Authority to inspect

  (6) The Librarian and Archivist of Canada may, at any time, inspect records kept under sections 114 to 116 that are under the control of a government institution as defined in section 2 of the Library and Archives of Canada Act, and the archivist for a province may at any time inspect any records kept under those sections that the archivist is authorized to inspect under any Act of the legislature of the province.

• Definition of destroy

  (7) For the purposes of subsections (2) and (3), destroy, in respect of a record, means

  • (a) to shred, burn or otherwise physically destroy the record, in the case of a record other than a record in electronic form; and

  • (b) to delete, write over or otherwise render the record inaccessible, in the case of a record in electronic form.

Marginal note:No subsequent disclosure

129 No person who is given access to a record or to whom information is disclosed under this Act shall disclose that information to any other person unless the disclosure is authorized under this Act.

PART 7General Provisions

Disqualification of Judge

Marginal note:Disqualification of judge

• 130 (1) Subject to subsection (2), a youth justice court judge who, prior to an adjudication in respect of a young person charged with an offence, examines a pre-sentence report made in respect of the young person in connection with that offence or has, after a guilty plea or a finding of guilt, heard submissions as to sentence and then there has been a change of plea, shall not in any capacity conduct or continue the trial of the young person for the offence and shall transfer the case to another judge to be dealt with according to law.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) A youth justice court judge may, in the circumstances referred to in subsection (1), with the consent of the young person and the prosecutor, conduct or continue the trial of the young person if the judge is satisfied that he or she has not been predisposed by a guilty plea or finding of guilt, or by information contained in the pre-sentence report or submissions as to sentence.

Substitution of Judge

Marginal note:Powers of substitute youth justice court judge

• 131 (1) A youth justice court judge who acts in the place of another youth justice court judge under subsection 669.2(1) (continuation of proceedings) of the Criminal Code shall

  • (a) if an adjudication has been made, proceed to sentence the young person or make the order that, in the circumstances, is authorized by law; or

  • (b) if no adjudication has been made, recommence the trial as if no evidence had been taken.

• Marginal note:Transcript of evidence already given

  (2) A youth justice court judge who recommences a trial under paragraph (1)(b) may, if the parties consent, admit into evidence a transcript of any evidence already given in the case.

Exclusion from Hearing

Marginal note:Exclusion from hearing

• 132 (1) Subject to subsection (2), a court or justice before whom proceedings are carried out under this Act may exclude any person from all or part of the proceedings if the court or justice considers that the person’s presence is unnecessary to the conduct of the proceedings and the court or justice is of the opinion that

  • (a) any evidence or information presented to the court or justice would be seriously injurious or seriously prejudicial to

    • (i) the young person who is being dealt with in the proceedings,

    • (ii) a child or young person who is a witness in the proceedings, or

    • (iii) a child or young person who is aggrieved by or the victim of the offence charged in the proceedings; or

  • (b) it would be in the interest of public morals, the maintenance of order or the proper administration of justice to exclude any or all members of the public from the court room.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) Subject to section 650 (accused to be present) of the Criminal Code and except if it is necessary for the purposes of subsection 34(9) (nondisclosure of medical or psychological report) of this Act, a court or justice may not, under subsection (1), exclude from proceedings under this Act

  • (a) the prosecutor;

  • (b) the young person who is being dealt with in the proceedings, the counsel or a parent of the young person or any adult assisting the young person under subsection 25(7);

  • (c) the provincial director or his or her agent; or

  • (d) the youth worker to whom the young person’s case has been assigned.

• Marginal note:Exclusion after adjudication or during review

  (3) A youth justice court, after it has found a young person guilty of an offence, or a youth justice court or a review board, during a review, may, in its discretion, exclude from the court or from a hearing of the review board any person other than the following, when it is being presented with information the knowledge of which might, in its opinion, be seriously injurious or seriously prejudicial to the young person:

  • (a) the young person or his or her counsel;

  • (b) the provincial director or his or her agent;

  • (c) the youth worker to whom the young person’s case has been assigned; and

  • (d) the Attorney General.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (4) The exception set out in paragraph (3)(a) is subject to subsection 34(9) (nondisclosure of medical or psychological report) of this Act and section 650 (accused to be present) of the Criminal Code.