It’s a common misconception that the Youth Criminal Justice Act pardons any crimes committed as a teenager and wipes the criminal record clean once the person becomes an adult.

 

It is just that, however – a misconception. Crimes by a young person, those errors in judgment leading to their arrest and conviction, do, in fact, indefinitely affect the person throughout their entire adult life.

“Your record is your record until it’s expunged or you receive a pardon,” said Deputy Chief Rod Stafford of the Weyburn Police Service.

“What the courts are entitled to do with previous convictions as a young person is impacted by your age and how long ago the record was placed in your file, but it doesn’t just vanish on your 18th birthday,” he explained.

He said that, in the right circumstances, for particular types of offenses, if the pattern of behavior is repeated into adulthood, those youth convictions can be brought up in adult court and can be used for sentencing.

“We always caution the youth,” he said. “Whenever I speak with a youth regarding issues that may end up with a criminal record for them, is that job markets are tight, universities are tight. Getting into the college of medicine or the college of law is extremely competitive. If it comes down to all things being equal except person A doesn’t have a criminal record, and person B has a criminal record, most people can guess who’s going to get that opportunity, and it’s not going to be the person with the criminal record.”

Click HERE for more information on the Youth Criminal Justice Act.