Two youth, their parents and community members, have come together and used the Youth Justice Committee following an incident back in May.
The Youth Justice Committee, which was put together by the Essex County Youth Diversion, aims at providing those with an opportunity to make things right after committing a 'soft' crime.
Two young men were involved in a highly publicized incident where they brought soft air guns to a youth dance at the Essex Sports Plex.
The dance was reportedly attended by 200 youth in grades five to eight. Following an investigation, two 13-year-olds, who cannot be identified due to their age, were diverted as part of the Pre-Charge Diversion Program, under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Following a 'soft' crime, a task must be agreed on that the young persons will complete, and can include: an apology, restitution, volunteer work, donation to charity, or attending a program. Once the tasks are completed, the police will not lay charges, or the charges will be withdrawn by the court.
Speaking on AM800's The Shift with Patty Handysides, Joanna Conrad, Executive Director of Essex County Youth Diversion, says these two young men voluntarily participated in apologies in an effort to make things right.
She says aside from apologies, there are many avenues that youth may be asked to do following an offence.
"Depending on the circumstances it might be community service work that they might be asked to do, perhaps make a donation, or they might be asked to participate in a program. Again, depending on what the circumstances are and what contributed to that young person engaging in that behaviour we would look at what the underlying reasons are for them to have committed that offence."
She says the two youth didn't see what impact their decisions would have on others.
"And I know for some people it might be, 'well what we're they expecting was going to happen?'. But in their minds it was obviously a very silly decision, perhaps not the most intelligent at the time. But, the one who brought the air soft gun, it was merely to impress friends."
Conrad says the two youth stood in front of the committee, comprised of Town of Essex Mayor Richard Meloche, Councillor Sherry Bondy, Councillor Kim Verbeek, and Director of Community Services, Jake Morassut, and apologized for their actions.
"They took responsibility for it, they didn't make light of it, they didn't have any excuses for their behaviour. And the town was really quite satisfied with what they brought forward, and they would like to see a formal apology letter written, and they wanted it to be distributed to the OPP, but also to the Optimist Club and they wanted one to be made public as well."
Conrad adds that Youth Diversion wants the public to know that these two youth are simply kids who made a poor decision, but they are essentially just kids who deserve a second chance.