Let's show them some respect, maybe they do deserve it for living in the hell they most likely have endured. If it was your teenage son would you think the same. The problem isn't the teen it is society and their environment. Therefore they should be treated as an adult. A young adult who decides to pick up a knife and stab someone is obviously not thinking like a thirteen year old or 17 year old.
Nobody is in their right mind to do such a thing.
Young Offenders should take the punishment and responsibility. The Young Offenders Act is not a solution to trouble making children. The solution is to get rid of it. If children want to commit a crime, they know the consequences. Soon, they'll realize that committing a crime is not what it's all cracked up to be in the end because of the punishment they'll get.