Glossary of Consequences of a Youth Record

Glossary of Terms

Charge

A formal accusation that a person has committed an offence. The person charged has to respond to the charge formally; for example, by pleading guilty or not guilty in court.

Crown Prosecutor

A lawyer who presents the Crown’s case in court against a person charged with an offence.

Disposition

The outcome of a criminal case – how it is finally settled. This could range from the charge being withdrawn, or to the person pleading guilty, or being found guilty, or not guilty.

Extrajudicial measure

A measure the authorities may use to hold a young person accountable for an offence they committed, instead of bringing them to court. Examples of extrajudicial measures include police warnings and cautions, crown cautions, referrals to community programs, and more formal extrajudicial sanctions.

Extrajudicial sanction

The most formal type of extrajudicial measure used by the authorities to hold a young person accountable for an offence. This sanction is used only when other extrajudicial measures such as warnings, cautions, or referrals are not adequate to hold the young person accountable. Extrajudicial sanctions have conditions that the young person must obey, failing which they can be brought to court.

Indictable offence

A serious offence that carries more severe consequences than a summary conviction offence.

Probation

Time spent by a person found guilty of an offence, under the supervision of a probation officer, as part of their sentence. Probation usually imposes conditions, some of which may be as follows: a curfew; a prohibition against carrying a weapon; not going to a particular place; being in contact with a certain person(s).

Sentence

A court’s judgment against a person who is found guilty of an offence, imposing the legal consequences of guilt, such as a fine, custody, probation, or some combination of these.

Summary conviction offence

A minor offence that carries less severe consequences than an indictable offence.

Transcript

A copy of the record of a trial, prepared by a court clerk, from a tape recording.

Young person

A person 12 years of age or older, and less than 18; in other words, a person who is neither a child nor an adult.

Youth record

A record of a young person’s involvement in the youth justice system.

This information applies to British Columbia, Canada. Last reviewed for legal accuracy by People's Law School, 2014.

Consequences of a Youth Record © People's Law School is, except for the images, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence.