Is the Youth Justice System Effective - Coursework Example

Is the Youth Justice system effective? Introduction: This paper needs to consider the impact of law in the context of juvenile delinquency or misdeamors by youth in the Canadian context. It is first of all necessary to define what constitutes juvenile delinquency. Generally speaking, it is seen that young people “between the ages of 7 and 16 who commit an act” which could be considered as a criminal act, if indulged by an adult, could constitute juvenile delinquency. (Frequently asked questions: What is the difference between a juvenile delinquent and a juvenile offender?, n.d., para.1). It is seen that youth justice system is characteristics of the need to seek solutions to varying degree and incidence of youth generated crimes, which may differ in nature, intensity and purpose. Thus it would be correct to assume that, since the need for criminal retribution needs to commensurate with the level of crime committed, it is also necessary that criminal justice delivery systems for youth cannot be generalized or patterned. Again, it is also felt in several sections of society that “society gets the youth justice system it deserves.” (Stephenson, Giller & Brown, 2007, p.2). Through this essay, efforts are being made to address the present youth justice delivery system in this country, in terms of whether it has been able to acquit itself reasonable effectively well, what are its areas of strengths and weaknesses, especially the gaps in the erstwhile system. It is also necessary that areas of remedial action need to be identified, that could constructively address such issues and pave the way for better management of the justice delivery system with regard to youth. It is also required to consider the relevant growth and decline rates of youth crimes, this essay also needs to delve into whether softer options like welfare could be a better option than justice and enforcement of punitive measures to control and alleviate the incidence of YJS in this country. Thesis Statement: Whether the present youth justice system is effective or not? Body: Before the thesis statement is considered for validation, it would be worthwhile to consider the reasons why youth justice system needs to be enforced. It is a major tool, for not only considering the punitive aspects of law breaking and other social menaces, but also in terms of deterrent action towards warding off recidivism of such criminal conduct and behavior. However, in the context of Canada, it needs be seen how the basic characterization of youth crimes take place in this country, and the different changes that are taken place surrounding youth crime justice delivery systems. It is also rather necessary to consider, more than using the justice system to address issues of youth crimes, to know about youth crimes, what its main constituents are, and how youth crimes affect the general levels of crime in this country. During 1997, a select group of respondents in Ontario were asked to identify the best method of “controlling crime” in this country. (Doob & Cesaroni, 2004, p.4). The test confirmed that action, in terms of increasing social programs, rather than sentencing could be the best solutions. The main aspect that needs to be considered is that most people think that the justice system needs to take care of youth crimes. However, while there are schools of thought who believe that putting the young offenders in prison, treating them as adults would not really serve the purpose, and it is also necessary to consider softer options. Inflicting strong and harsh punishment on young people could have negative effects, including the hardening of attitudes towards society that may not be the right solutions to their ills. It is necessary to consider what is best for these section of society, the youth. Except for crimes of a capital nature, like rape, murders or major felony, it is believed that they need to be treated and punished separately from adults. It is not only a question of the tender age of the criminals, it is also one of understanding the motives behind juvenile and youth crimes- economic, social or even the result of experiences at home or at the place of learning. It is seen that youth are in the losing end of both worlds if consigned to adult courts and sentencing. For one thing, they may be deprived of the understanding and care which their age demands, and for another, they are treated as adult criminals although they are not adults, both in physical and intellectual terms. However, it is also necessary to consider that most people in Canada believed that present mode of punishment are too lenient and does not really bring about effective results for the young offenders. The Young Offenders Act has given place to the Youth Criminal Justice Act during 2003. The legislative aspect of justice delivery system seems to be loaded in favor of delinquents. For instance, YCJA states that the main objectives of “The youth criminal justice system is to prevent crime by addressing the circumstances underlying a young persons offending behavior, rehabilitate young persons who commit offences and reintegrate them back into society, and ensure that a young person is subject to meaningful consequences for his or her offences, in order to promote the long-term protection of the public." (Youth criminal justice act, 2006, para.5). It has been felt that the YCJA has been too lenient and fails to address the spurt in youth criminal activities over the years, since its main thrust has been on rehabilitation, reform and welfare, rather than on punitive or deterrent punishment to young offenders. However, it could also be argued that the enforcement of stronger measures may not really bring down the crime rate, especially the non-capital kind, like house-breaking, assault and battery and other crimes. While it is argued that deterrence in the case of young offenders cannot be enforced at the expense of adult trials methods, or subject to adult punishments, it is also necessary that the government needs to consider ways and means by which crime rates, in the Canadian context, needs to be reinforced with a greater degree of commitment, conviction and courage, not only in terms of delivering a just and equitable sentence but also to dissuade present young offenders from recidivistic tendencies, considering the mild nature of punishment that they receive for their apparent misconduct. While it is necessary that punishment need to commensurate with the kind of offence, it is also needed that it should not be strong to create bitterness and rancor, and not mild enough not to serve the inherent purpose for which courts and justice delivery systems operate in this country. “An examination of variation across provinces in self-reported violent and property offending by Canadian youths demonstrates considerably less variation than the rate of police-recorded contacts with youths or the rate of use of youth court for these youths. Official measures of offending by youths in Canada are probably best seen as reflections of the behavior of adults in deciding how to respond to offending by youths, rather than of the behavior of youths.” (Sprott & Doob, 2008, Abstract, para.1). “By including questions concerning other aspects of an adolescent’s life as well as a delinquency scale on the same questionnaire, researchers could explore a host of etiological issues.” (Pepper & Petrie, 2003, p.46). It is evidences that the pre- YCJA justice system, (the period during which the Young Offenders Act had been in vogue) had several deficiencies as a result of which it became necessary to replace it with a more effective piece of legislature. The main areas of lacunae were: It does not have a clear cut and cogent “youth justice philosophy.” (The youth criminal justice act, 2009). Besides having a high rate of arrest and custody, the services of busy courts were often overused with petty cases that demanded trial (such cases could have best be resolved through out-of-court settlements). Besides this, it is also seen that the sentencing decisions were often loaded against the defendants, being young offenders, not well versed with the appropriate laws and strategies that could either get them free or lowered sentences. Besides, the prevalent laws of sentencing youth and juveniles in adult courts, judging them with the same perspective as adults also did little to reduce the incidence and intensity of youth crimes in the Canadian context. It is now necessary to consider the statistics available regarding youth crimes in the context of Canada. The enforcement of YCJA during 2003 have resulted in lowered number of youths aged between 12-17 being produced in court or sent to protective custody. (Youth court statistics, 2008). During 2006/07 the number of court cases involving youth have come down dramatically over the period of 202/03, at 56,463 although there has been a marginal increase over 2005-06 period which stood at 56,271. (See Table below) However nearly all states in Canada have witnessed substantive declines in the number of youth court cases, with Newfound land and Labrador posting impressive declines over the corresponding figures during 2002-03. Table (s) Cases in youth court    2002/2003  2005/2006  2006/2007 2005/2006 to 2006/2007 2002/2003 to 2006/2007   number of cases % of total number of cases % of total number of cases % of total % change % change Canada 76,153 100 56,271 100 56,463 100 0.3 -25.9 Newfoundland and Labrador 1,403 1.8 753 1.3 738 1.3 -2.0 -47.4 Prince Edward Island 263 0.3 178 0.3 209 0.4 17.4 -20.5 Nova Scotia 1,942 2.6 1,672 3.0 1,798 3.2 7.5 -7.4 New Brunswick 1,551 2.0 1,225 2.2 1,174 2.1 -4.2 -24.3 Quebec 7,689 10.1 6,930 12.3 6,653 11.8 -4.0 -13.5 Ontario 35,710 46.9 25,084 44.6 25,102 44.5 0.1 -29.7 Manitoba 3,506 4.6 2,995 5.3 3,076 5.4 2.7 -12.3 Saskatchewan 6,377 8.4 4,855 8.6 5,165 9.1 6.4 -19.0 Alberta 10,439 13.7 7,919 14.1 8,016 14.2 1.2 -23.2 British Columbia 6,473 8.5 4,111 7.3 4,065 7.2 -1.1 -37.2 Yukon 164 0.2 82 0.1 90 0.2 9.8 -45.1 Northwest Territories 385 0.5 242 0.4 186 0.3 -23.1 -51.7 Nunavut 251 0.3 225 0.4 191 0.3 -15.1 -23.9 Note: Figures may not add up to due to rounding. Date Modified: 2009-08-13 (Table (s), 2008). One of the major deficiencies of the forerunner of the present YCJA has been the YOA which had failed to address problems relating to the overabundance of custodial detention. However, under the present regime, this had falling dramatically, in that while during the years 2006/07, about 17% or 5,640 of all guilty cases resulted in a custodial sentence. This compares with 13,246 or 27% of all guilty cases in 2002/2003. (Youth court statistics, 2008). Thus, it would not be wrong to suggest that the enforcement of new legislatures, especially with regard to custody of alleged offenders, which now adopts a youth court instead of the erstwhile adult court, has resulted in lower incarceration and reduced the need for new jails to be constructed. Recommendations: It need to be suggested that the overall perspective of youth criminal system needs to be overhauled in order to attain better results in future. For one thing, the putative punishment aspect needs to be withdrawn, in the context of 11- 17 year old offenders. Instead, programs need to be chalked out that could consider the monitoring of their well being in congenial surroundings, and the improvements in their conduct and interaction monitored over time by social workers or psychologists. A more constructive and congenial approach to reducing youth crimes, with lesser incidence of recidivism, could be achieved if the perpetrator is made aware of the social detriment he has caused to the victims and their families. Such kind of counseling and joint sessions with patients, providers and social agencies could bring about remarkable changes in the youth and community setting. Conclusions: It could be said that the law affords ample protection and confidentiality to offenders. “The Criminal Code also includes provisions to protect the identity of victims and witnesses in certain cases.” (Information for victims of crimes committed by young people, 2009, Privacy, para.1). Offences dealing with youth issues are of two types- serious crimes and not so serious crimes, dealing both with property and human life. The fact remains that no so serious crimes may not always be reported, and would thus fail to meet thresholds of this study. However, serious crimes do lead to detention, arrests and conviction which attract official recordings. More often than not, crimes of serious nature and violence are well documented, and arrests and detentions provide valid and accurate results. Thus it could be concluded that in the context of Canada, presently the youth justice system seems to be quite effective. Reference List Doob, A N., & Cesaroni, C. (2004). Responding to youth crime in Canada. University of Toronto Press 4. Frequently asked questions: What is the difference between a juvenile delinquent and a juvenile offender?. (n.d.). About Juvenile Delinquents: What Every Parent Need to Know. Retrieved November 7, 2009, from http://www.aboutjuveniledelinquents.com/faq.html Information for victims of crimes committed by young people: Fact sheet no.2: Victims: The right to participate: Privacy. (2009). Department of Justice, Canada. Retrieved November 7, 2009, from http://canada.justice.gc.ca/eng/pi/yj-jj/information/vic2.html Pepper, J V., & Petrie, C V. (2003). Measurement problems in criminal justice research: Workshop summary. The National Academies Press. 46. Sprott, J B., & Doob, A N. (2008). Youth crime rates and the youth justice system: Abstract. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 50 (5), 621-639. University of Toronto Press. DOI: 10.1353/ccj.0.0034 Stephenson, M., Giller, H., & Brown, S. (2007). Effective practice in youth justice: The youth justice context. Wilan Publishing. 2. Table (s). (2008). Statistics Canada. Retrieved November 7, 2009, from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/080520/t080520d-eng.htm The youth criminal justice act: Summary and background: The need for new youth justice legislation. (2009). Department of Justice, Canada. Retrieved November 7, 2009, from http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/pi/yj-jj/ycja-lsjpa/back-hist.html Youth court statistics: The daily. (2008). Statistics Canada. Retrieved November 7, 2009, from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/080520/dq080520d-eng.htm Youth criminal justice act: Changing the law on young criminals. (2006). CBC News In Depth. Retrieved November 7, 2009, from http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/crime/ycja.html Read More