This trend is part of the national move toward what the author terms manichaean neo-liberalism, in which society divides good people from bad people, giving the former greater latitude and rights, while excluding and repressing those who fall into the latter category. In 1982, the Canadian Federal Government passed legislation mandating 18 as the maximum age for youthful offenders. However, some groups are now calling for an automatic transfer to adult court of young offenders charged with certain serious crimes. The author maintains that juvenile crime is a fact of life in all industrial societies and, contrary to popular belief, has not been increasing in a constant or irrepressible way in recent years. Current procedures allow courts, in exceptional cases, to transfer serious juvenile offenders to adult court. Therefore, to call for uniformity and to prevent juvenile courts from adjudicating certain crimes on the basis that some young offenders should be dealt with by adult courts, has no validity and contradicts offender rehabilitation, which should be the ultimate goal of the criminal justice system. 2 notes