Chapter 11 - Perpetrating Social Injustice Flashcards
Aboriginal Young Offenders
- Custody admissions continue to increase for Aboriginal youth; still see this increased despite attempts to address
- Aboriginal youth given inappropriate programming; still trying to assimilate
- Removal of Ab youth from communities also proves ineffective; but persists
Overuse of Custody
- Aboriginal youth still disproportionately sentenced to custody or held in remand
- Custody sentences for Aboriginal youth longer and more likely secure settings
- While provisions in the Criminal Code direct judges to consider alternatives to custody for adult offenders, no such directives exist for youth offenders.
Lack of Facilities and Programming
- a lack of young offender facilities and programs in Aboriginal communities
- The result is an overuse of custody for Aboriginal youth — this takes place away from home communities
- Reintegration is hindered. lack of aftercare programs in home communities
- Leads to higher rates of recidivism (reoffending). (True for all offenders)
A liberal-based philosophy or belief that all is or should be the same.
Equality
Beliefs, attitudes, theories, philosophies, and practices that are specific to the European experience, thinking, and worldviews.
Eurocentric
Refers to programs based on a feminist model of empowerment rather than crime-prevention risk-assessment tools, and that focus on oppressive societal structures and the needs of girls rather than individual criminogenic factors.
Gender-Responsive (GR) Programming
A principle of justice based on the philosophy that crime is an injury requiring the healing of severed relations among the offender, the victim, their families, and the community.
Healing Principle
Groups of people ho do not form the political, social, and/or cultural majority.
Minorities
A single, uniform, undifferentiated idea or structure.
Monolithic
Poverty and Marginalization / Abuse and Sexual Exploitation
- The poor and marginalized are overrepresented in the youth justice system
- Many girls in custody had initial contact with the justice system either as a runaway or underage prostitute
- Solutions to female offending may lie in education access & non-traditional vocational & employment programs
- Programming needs to address the victimization of female offenders (most come from trauma).
- Foster care has been used as alternative to living in abusive homes but too often abuse has continued in these settings
- Group care not traditionally offered fem-centred programming
An important component of the mdiation/healing process, based on the belief that a productive response to crime is to encourage all affected parties to participate in conflict resolution.
Reconciliation
A correctional concept referring to places and programs designed to introduce offenders back into their communities as productive, participating, law-abiding members.
Reintegration
Occurs when policies designed to end discrimination against one group inadvertently create discrimination against another group.
Reverse Discrimination
Often used in Aboriginal communities; judges sit with community members to decide on an appropriate sentence for an individual case.
Sentencing Circle
A situation in which specific groups of people are disadvantaged relative to others because of societal laws, policies, or practices.
Social Injustice
Special populations and the YCJA
- The youth justice system built around Euro-Canadian, white, anglosaxon boys
- Does YCJA do any better recognizing needs of girls, Aboriginals, & youth with special needs such as FASD and LD?
- Fetal alcohol syndrome disorder and learning disorders.
- FAS disorder (FASD): range of effects caused by prenatal exposure to alcohol
- hindbrain starts to form early after conception. high potential to be affected
- extra y chromosome seems to affect the brain. 50% have contact with law. (Ability to consider consequences).
