Canadian laws on youth crime are being held up by British researchers as a shining example of success even when the Conservative government has denounced them as an unmitigated failure that must be replaced with "new balanced legislation that focuses on deterrence and responsibility."
Researchers Enver Solomon and Rob Allen, in a study highlighting "lessons from abroad" that could be used to reduce youth crime in England and Wales, conclude that Canada's Youth Criminal Justice Act has apparently met its goal of cutting the crime rate and incarcerating fewer young people.
"My impression was that it was a very progressive piece of legislation, one of the most progressive in relation to youth crime passed by a jurisdiction in the English-speaking Western world in a number of years," Mr. Solomon said in an interview.
The act, which was adopted by the previous Liberal government in 2003 to replace the Young Offenders Act, promotes rehabilitation for young people aged 12 to 17 who are in trouble with the law, while reserving incarceration for serious violent crimes.
The British study found that in England and Wales, custody is "proving to be an expensive, ineffective tool for reducing youth crime," and "excessive use of youth custody is one of the surest ways to grow the adult prison population of the future."
When the Youth Criminal Justice Act was adopted, Canada had one of the highest youth incarceration rates in the world. Those numbers dropped by 36% between 2003 and 2008, according to the latest figures available from Statistics Canada.
"While Western countries have generally taken a more punitive approach to youth justice reform in recent years, Canada has passed a far more progressive piece of legislation," wrote Mr. Solomon and Mr. Allen.
The Government of Canada, right now, run by the Conservative Party of Canada, has pledged for years to rewrite the act, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper dismissing it as an unmitigated failure for failing to hold young lawbreakers accountable for their crimes.
The Government of Canada wants judges to consider "deterrence" as a principle in sentencing by effectively adding extra time to send a public message. Also, young offenders convicted of serious and violent crimes would be publicly identified, unlike the current law, which prohibits naming those under 18, except in rare circumstances.
I'm starting to wonder if Mr. Solomon and Mr. Allen are on crack.
Tougher treatment of young offenders is one of the few remaining promises in the 2008 Conservative election platform that have not been introduced in the House of Commons.
Canadian laws on youth crime are being held up by British researchers as a shining example of success even when the Conservative government has denounced them as an unmitigated failure that must be replaced with "new balanced legislation that focuses on deterrence and responsibility."
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