Week 10 - Policing Youth

Question 1

The Saints and Roughnecks

Answer 1

The Saints:
- White upper-middle-class boys active in school affairs.
- Very delinquent
- Drinking, wild driving, petty theft.
The Roughnecks:
- Working-class white boys
- Trouble with police and community
- Roughnecks were viewed as troublemakers and saints as good boys.

Question 2

Charter Rights

Question 3

Objectives of Extrajudicial Measures in YCJA

Answer 3

• Laying charges - no charges are laid (except Ontario)
• May be used with prior record - depending on the nature of the offence
• Restorative Justice - Take responsibility, engage with victims and community; acknowledge and repair the harm
• Professionals: Police and crown (judges cannot refer)

Question 4

Extrajudicial (diversionary measures)

Answer 4

• Young people were kept out of the justice system solely through the exercise of police or prosecutorial discretion
• One consequence of these concerns was the development of numerous programs aimed at diverting young people from the formal justice system. In 1977, for example, Quebec passed the Youth Protection Act, which combined juvenile delinquency cases and child welfare cases in services designed to meet both needs
• Police are required to refer all young people to an intake officer, who decides whether to take further action through the court, divert the young person to another aspect of the system, or take no action
• StopLift continues to be used in many cities. This anti-shoplifting program is for young people involved in petty theft.

Question 5

Police Culture and Youth Offenders

Answer 5

Influence decisions:
1) typifications of the delinquent
2) Course of the action
3) Policy of the police Department

Question 6

Police Discretion

Answer 6

• Definition - Decision to invoke (or not) legal sanction - when circumstances are favourable
• Legal Factors - Bound by law (seriousness of offence)
• Extralegal - Outside formal legal process (non-legal reasons)

Question 7

Police Contact and Decision Making

Question 8

Legal Factors Affecting Police Decision

Question 9

Extralegal Factors

Question 10

Racial Profiling

Answer 10

• This exists when members of a particular racial or ethnic group become subject to greater criminal justice or surveillance than others based on their race/ethnicity
• Consequences - Over-representation in the Criminal Justice System
• Under-Policing - Less Protections