Madam Speaker, I think we need to make a distinction between the various types of crimes. There are the serious, horrible and unacceptable crimes, which should be dealt with before adult courts, as stipulated in the current legislation.
Now, for all the other types of crimes, we know that the majority of crimes committed by young people are property offences. The most important thing is to find a way to allow the young offenders to directly compensate their victims. Let me give you an example.
If we were to ask a 14- or 15-year-old who broke into my house to mow my lawn for a whole summer, I think that might serve as compensation for the crime and as a constant reminder to the offender of what he did wrong. That could improve relations in our society. I would probably lock my doors while he mowed the lawn, but still there may be some innovative alternatives to intolerance and repression.
Teenagers and children are victims. They were not born this way. We have to understand that they are not totally responsible for their actions. The economic and social conditions in which we have them live and the school situation they find themselves in have a significant impact on the lives of 14- to 18-year-olds. When they need to identify with someone, there is no one around: their fathers are gone, their mothers have new boyfriends or vice versa. They change home every week, they never live at the same place, they have problems at school. We built them huge schools where they do not feel as though they belong. All of these things make life very difficult for our young people. That is why they are constantly testing society to see what is allowed and what is forbidden.
The more innovative and tolerant we are towards young offenders, in order to give them the opportunity to right the wrongs they did, the better their chances for rehabilitation.