to do so, the youth-court judge shall refer the young person to the provincial legal-aid, or assistance program. If no such program is available or the young person is unable to obtain counsel through an available program, the youth court judge may, and on the request of the young person shall direct the young person to be represented by counsel." To establish a relationship between the young offender and the lawyer, thew lawyer must be able to receive instructions from his/her client. Usually there is little difficulty either receiving or carrieing out the instructions of his/her client. Special problems can arise when the client is a young person. The problems faced by this, is the young person may not be able to communicate with counsel. While the lawyer and young person need not a specific statement for the client as to a preferred outcome it should take form of a general expression of the client's feelings or attitudes in the major issues of the precedings the young person must be able to make decisions that may hold significant repercussions. Mental health of the young offender can also be a problem. Currently this issue is not addressed in the Young Offenders Act, before the mental health act can be enacted, extremely dangerous behaviour must be displayed. Before the age of 16 they are sometimes placed in hospitals for a short time under the authority of the legal guardians. ...
