Personally, I advocate as much flexibility as possible, the greatest possible discretion for judges, and focusing on factors other than just the type of offence, regardless of whether we change it from "serious violent offence" to "serious offence". I don't think the act necessarily makes the actor, rather, it is the young person's entire situation.
I think the bill should not constrain judges in terms of what they can do. The situation that led to the Nunn Commission in Nova Scotia is a good example. Under the law as it had been written, the judge could not have the young person detained. Formerly, the Young Offenders Act struck a good balance, in my opinion, between the needs of young people and the need to protect society. Under that act, the young person could have been detained.
So the more we narrow judicial discretion, which is appropriate in a system where great attention is paid to the individual who is brought before the judge, the more we drive the system into a corner, and the less able we are to react appropriately to each particular situation.