week 12 (test #3) Flashcards
Explain the Juvenile Delinquents Act
Juvenile Delinquents Act (1908):
- social welfare approach - youth lacking parental guidance
- state intervention (parents patriae = ‘parent of the country’)
- status offences - charges unique to youth adding a whole new dimension of offences added on (ex. truancy)
- supervision pending rehabilitation - hold youth until they are deemed rehabilitated
What was the Young Offender Act?
Young Offenders Act (1984):
- replaced the Juvenile Delinquents Act
- emphasizing reintegration and rehabilitation and rights while also protecting the public safety
- during a time in the 80s of growing fear of what youth were becoming
- now replaced by the YCJA
What is the Youth Criminal Justice Act? What kinds of things does it include and emphasize
YCJA (2002):
- prevention, rehabilitation, and reintegration
- approach is now wanting to keep kids out of custody > crown has to go the extra mile to prove danger/risk to society
** leniency because of immaturity
- has had multiple amendments
- protection of the public, adding deterrence and denunciation
- adult sentence provisions for serious offences
- publication ban and violent offences
- alternative measures for administrative offences (ex. failure to comply)
- loosening bail conditions
What was the Agassiz Youth Centre?
Was a youth custody centre in Portage la Prairie
- focused on taking kids away and basically re-raising them and training them with work-related training
- closed in 2022 due to falling custody counts after the YCJA came into place
What is the Manitoba Youth Centre?
- it is where all of incarcerated youth in southern Manitoba are held
- kind of a panoptic design (or cottage design)
- divided based on gender, age, risk level, etc.
- how things are dealt with in the MYC can depend on the political agendas of the time
Explain how the YCJA caters to youth compared to adults
- separation and “diminished moral blameworthiness” > idea that youth are less morally culpable for their actions (something pure in them to protect)
- treatment based on a “reduced level of maturity”
- restriction on imposition of adult sentences (has to be extremely serious to be tried as an adult)
- expansion of alternatives models (what can we do for youth outside of custody)
Explain some of the complications and complexities of the YCJA
- complex legal framework - hyper-specialization and critique (YCJA extremely complicated to read and understand)
- the pitfalls of specialization, unique measures, and conditions:
> raising expectations and perceptions of failure (very high standards - agencies in fear of breaching the legislation)
> closing ranks vs. interoperability (the youth sector is becoming kind of isolated with a lack of communication)
> the transition from Justice to Family Services? (question of if youth should even be part of the CJS at all)
The YCJA/youth criminal justice sector is highly __________ and highly _________
specialized
scrutinized
What are the principles of youth sentencing as defined in the YCJA
- least restrictive sentence possible
- fairness and proportionality based on accountability, rehabilitation, reintegration, and prevention
- denunciation and deterrence
- enhanced procedural protections (ex. how to involve guardians)
- timely and meaningful intervention (notion of being fast bc you don’t want to wait until they’re an adult)
- repair harm and reinforce values
- respect for gender, ethnic, and cultural differences
- enhanced privacy and disclosure requirements - “access periods” (different policies on how long to retain youth records - assumption is that kids shouldn’t carry youth records into adulthood)
How are summary and indictable offence records dealt with for youth offences
summary offence: record is destroyed 3 years after the completed sentence
indictable offence: record is sealed 5 years after the completed sentence
*these dates can be extended if they are found guilty of a new offence
*if they’re convicted as an adult before the youth offence retention period is over, then the youth information remains on their record
These rules can be hard to follow - everything is in a database and online now which keep everything indefinitely but then agencies are needing to work with software developers to delete files at the right times
- seeing YCJA intersecting with FIPA and PHIA (privacy acts)
What are extrajudicial measures and extrajudicial sanctions?
EJM - providing police and the crown with alternatives that divert youth who acknowledge guilt in LESS serious offences
*diversion pre-and-post charge
EJS - providing alternatives to the formal court process for youth who acknowledge guilt in MORE serious offences
*outside the courts
What are the rules/examples of custodial sentences and non-custodial sentences
Custodial sentences (secure & open):
- 6yr maximum (secure)
- combined with supervision orders, conditional supervision, deferred custody, etc.
- intensive rehabilitative custody and supervision order (IRCS) > for youth with mental health needs
- most escapes are from open custody (ex. Keeping them overnight and then doing community service during the day)
Non-Custodial Sentences:
- probation maximum of 2 years
ex. reprimands from judges, discharges (absolute/conditional), fines, compensation, restitution, community service orders, prohibitions/forfeitures, probation, IRCS, non-residential attendance orders, etc.
What are some factors and stats about youth courts and how they’re dealt with
- more than 70% involve non-violent offences - males and older youth committing more of the violent offences
- most sentences involve community supervision
- females receive shorter terms
- overrepresentation (indigenous, black)
- some development in specialized (therapeutic) youth courts (ex. youth mental health court, ON)
> triage courts for less serious matters
> tribal court - dealing with early stages in a remote community to divert cases out of the system
Canadian Youth incarceration has decreased by ___% since 1997 - when was the largest decrease?
88%
- largest decrease in 2002/03 (YCJA enactment)
What is the Manitoba data trend for average youth custody population
- more than ___% of the population are remanded
And what is the Manitoba trend for referrals to diversion
Steadily decreasing - big decrease recently after 2020 which is around when Agassiz Youth Centre closed and because there is more and more pressure recently to adhere to YCJA legislation
70%
As custody counts are going down, alternative measures are going up
What are some examples of extrajudicial sanctions (diversion referrals)
- community justice committees
- st theresa point nation tribal court
- southern chiefs
- mediation services
- community service
+prevention services
What is the trend in the youth CSI from the past 25 yrs?
the CSI was at its highest in 1998 and following the YCJA it has gradually decreased by 53%
- maybe the YCJA is working and kids aren’t recommitting more violent crime
- maybe police are way more hesitant to arrest and charge kids because of the high standards and scrutiny
What has been the data trend of court file duration > time to complete a youth case?
The number of days for a youth case to be completed has increased by 244% in the past 25 yrs - largely because of the complexity in the YCJA
What is the trend in the past 25 years of the rates of youth charged and not charged
- rates of youth charged is going down
- rate of encounters with police when charges are not laid is also declining > not necessarily that police are interacting less with youth, but maybe that police aren’t proceeding as much and not event reporting their encounters as much > and maybe police are just less inclined to charge youth now *YCJA is changing the way police use their discretion (is this good or is it just increasing the iceberg effect?)
How has the social construction of youth crime changed over the years
The models for managing young people in the CJS have changed greatly over time (have come a long way in a short period of time - radical changes)
- from boot camps to the risk/need/responsivity approach
- from “too many youth getting into trouble” > 80s moral panic of youth drug use… to “too many youth in custody” - YCJA building safe streets and communities
What are some of the risks and complex needs with youth CJS (different intersecting factors)
- anti-social behaviour, parental incarceration, substance use, poverty, negative family environment, foster care, mental health, etc.
- gang involved (50% of youth in custody with gang ties) - how do you put them in a dorm setting?
- perpetuation-induced trauma (ex. child soldiers from Africa immigrating to canada with very complex layers of trauma often unknown) - ‘emotional numbing’
- indigenous youth dealing with trauma and need access to programs and services like mental health supports, grief counselling, and skill development
What does Crossover Youth refer to?
aka ‘dually involved’
- refers to youth involved in both child protection and justice systems (10-30%)
Explain the struggle of LGBTQ2S+ youth in the CJS
They are overrepresented and often dealing with precarious housing, couch surfing, justice involvement, and victimization
What are some different assessments used for youth in the CJS
Youth LS/CMI (level of service case management inventory)- criminogenic needs
Structured Assessment of Violent Risk in Youth (SAVRY) > violence/aggression index
Enhanced psychological/medical services in custodial settings
