R v Manitowabi: The Significance – and Limits – of a Diagnosis of FASD for Young Persons Involved in the Criminal Justice System
Guest post by Brock Jones, Crown Counsel [1] The Ontario Court of Appeal released a ground-breaking decision today on the significance of a diagnosis of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (“FASD”) for young persons in criminal. While the Court clearly acknowledged the nature of FASD and its implications for criminal culpability, it also put significant limits…
JOYRIDING
Jessica, a 14-year-old high school student, wanted to go to the mall with her friends after school. Neither she nor her friends, being the same age as her, had a license to drive to the mall and the mall was too far to walk to. At the same time, some of her friends did not…
House Party Gone Wrong…
Bianca’s parents are going out of town this weekend and with a bit of convincing from her friend Hailey she decides that she should throw a party Saturday night. Hailey even promises that she can get the alcohol for the party; she assures Bianca that her older sister will make an LCBO trip for them…
The Other Kids of 311 Jarvis
-by Niamh Harraher, Staff Lawyer and Jeffrey Rosekat, Chair of JFCY Board of Directors The prevailing wind of federal government policy and much media discourse seems focused on presenting youth as dangerous, out of control and in need of a highly punitive justice system. David Bruser’s series on the kids of 311 Jarvis Street which…
Concerts, Drug Use and Underage Drinking
Blogpost by JFCY volunteer Lucas Treleaven, law student Daniel Lo and JFCY lawyers.Fred is 17 and loves music. He goes to all his favourite bands concerts and owns all their T-shirts. One night he decided to go to a Blink 182 concert alone because his friends don’t really like Blink 182. He was having a great…
DEGRASSI – Legal issues in the "Dangerous Minds" episodes
The popular teen TV show Degrassi addresses issues that are relevant to Canadian youth. From time-to-time on this blog we will be exploring some of the legal issues that come up in Degrassi episodes. In episodes 1101 and 1102, called “Dangerous Minds”, Drew finds himself entangled in some very serious legal issues and decides to…
Sexual assault in the world of dating
Blog post by volunteers Josh (U of T undergrad student) and Bianca (law student) Scenario Meet Annie: a normal 16-year old girl. She is smart, pretty, and well liked by both her peers and teachers. And when popular jock Scott Herring asked her out, she agreed. She was nervous because she had never dated before,…