NCJ Number
205342
Journal
Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice Volume: 46 Issue: 3 Dated: April 2004 Pages: 273-299
Date Published
April 2004
Length
27 pages
Annotation
This review of provincial support for Canada's Young Offenders Act (YOA) identifies major differences between the Province of Quebec -- which supported the YOA and opposed its successor, the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) -- and other parts of Canada, which discredited the YOA and generally supported the passage of the YCJA.
Abstract
Several factors provided the basis for Quebec's support of the YOA, including an embedded rehabilitative approach to services for juvenile offenders, with staff trained accordingly; diversion programs that existed prior to the YOA; legal aid services for juveniles; and existing perceptions of juveniles as being accountable for their offenses. In effect, Quebec already had in place under the YOA many of the features touted under the YCJA, such that Quebec viewed the YCJA as unnecessary legislation. In Quebec, the YCJA was also viewed as tending to transform youth justice according to a criminal justice model in which the offense had a more central place than education and rehabilitation. The feeling in Quebec was that the YOA had never been fully accepted or implemented in other parts of Canada, particularly for 16- and 17-year-olds. Quebec considered that the goals of reducing court referrals and the use of custody, two objectives touted under the YCJA, could be achieved under the YOA, as Quebec believed it had shown in its justice system operations under the YOA. 12 notes and 32 references