The mental health issues that young people are facing are staggering—depression, and suicide. I just think of the pressure that young people are under. And then there are people who come from broken families. And then there's the Internet and what they're exposed to. And there's the lack of discipline, the choices to make, the fractured families, and the association with gangs. We find over and over and over again, that young people, who by their very nature live in their heads—and here I would say, try to get your teenager to talk to you—are carrying around tremendous emotional burdens.
Mental health is a serious issue before the youth justice courts. So if you flag, as parliamentarians, that mental health is an issue that we must look at.... And so this section can be expanded to say that judges should be taking into consideration a mental health issue. And here I'm not talking about letting somebody just escape, but about serious health issues.
I must tell you that from some of the stories I'm hearing from people who work with youth, the mental health problems they are seeing and experiencing are staggering and frightening.