A Guide to the Youth Criminal Justice Act, 2022/2023 Edition

Lee Tustin holds a B.A., B.Ed., M.Ed., an Ontario Teacher’s Certificate and a graduate diploma in social work, law and administration as well as a Master’s degree in Education. She has a Masters of Laws degree (LL.M.) from Osgoode Faculty of Law, York University. She has an extensive background in youth justice as a probation officer, a policy maker, a trainer, an advisor — all of the areas that deal with youth at risk and in conflict with the law. Following the implementation of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (1988), Lee travelled to the provinces and territories in Canada with the then Minister of Justice to gauge the progress of implementation of the Act.

As a Child and Youth Advocate at the Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth in Ontario, Lee has advocated for youth rights in the justice system and conducted many systemic investigations to enhance rights and to improve the quality of living in systems. Lee is also a Juvenile Justice Consultant/Advisor and trainer for numerous international development projects working in countries such as Kosovo, Uganda, Nairobi, Tanzania, Morocco, Albania, Bangladesh and most recently the Maldives. She is also a technical consultant for UNICEF’s Child Protection System Reform Roster in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. She is the author of a book on the Young Offenders Act entitled Caught in the Act: A User’s Guide to the Youth Justice System and the Young Offenders Act.

Robert E. Lutes, Q.C., received a B.Sc. from Mount Allison University in 1969, an LL.B. from the University of New Brunswick in 1973 and an LL.M. from Kings College at the University of London in 1974. After working in private practice from 1975 to 1980, Mr. Lutes joined the Province of Nova Scotia in 1980 as a senior Crown attorney with the Public Prosecution Service. Since 1998, Mr. Lutes has had three secondments: Department of Justice Canada to assist with the Youth Criminal Justice Act; RCMP National Youth Strategy as a youth justice training specialist; and the Learning and Development Human Resources Sector of the RCMP as a justice training specialist. He has also worked at the International level on youth justice projects in Latvia, Russia and Ukraine, most recently as the Canadian Field Advisor while resident in Kiev.