NCJ Number
148270
Date Published
1993
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This paper examines dispositions for young offenders based on data from an arbitrary subset of provinces and focuses on those ages that were within the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Delinquents Act for each province.
Abstract
This paper does not assess the appropriateness or the increased use of short sentences for young offenders, which would require much more data than what is available from the Youth Court Statistics series. Critical issues, such as the primary purpose of dispositions, must be settled before dispositions could be evaluated against some abstract standard. During the first few years of the Youth Offenders Act, judges appear to have changed their pattern of use of custodial sanctions. However, more detailed analysis and a clearer statement of purpose of dispositions under the present legislation are necessary in order to evaluate these trends. Endnotes, references