Getting Tough on the Young Offenders Act

The Young Offenders Act has raised howls of protest since it was first introduced in 1984. Under the Act, youth charged with even the most violent of crimes were tried in youth court, though in the worst cases the trial could be transferred to adult court. Nonetheless, violent young criminals often received absurdly light juvenile sentences.

The Act lowered a shroud of secrecy over this whole area of justice and law enforcement by prohibiting the publication of young offenders’’ names and details that would identify them. Despite three previous attempts to amend the Act, the Liberals have left this terribly flawed structure in place through their eight years in office.

McLellan’’s latest attempt at reform has horrified both Quebec, which fears its gentle-love rehabilitation approach will be shackled by what it sees as Ottawa’’s get-tough approach, and the other provinces, which believe the opposite – that the new bill will simply continue what they believe is Ottawa’’s molly-coddling of dangerous young offenders.

Ideally, the new act would satisfy both sides in the debate by giving them room to experiment. This would be sensible policy. Ultimately, the most successful approach gets imitated. Right now, the debate is wide open about what is most likely to succeed in reducing juvenile crime.

Quebec’’s go-soft approach seems to have merit. Between 1988 and 1998, the percentage of young people charged with violent crime in Quebec increased 42 per cent, but this was the lowest increase in the nation. The average national increase was 77 per cent. However, the record needs more thorough investigation. Other factors may be involved, such as low birth rate and thus a low density of young people.

Both the Parti Quebecois and the Bloc Quebecois have blasted the new bill but their objections are difficult to fathom. The Act explicitly gives Quebec the right to opt out of its most conscientious provision, one which allows juveniles as young as 14 to be given adult sentences. McLellan, with some justification, complains Quebec has failed to specify how this bill would limit the Quebec’’s freedom. Neither the Bloc Quebecois nor the Quebec Justice Department responded to my request for clarification.

The complaints of provinces that want a tougher approach to juvenile crime seem to have more merit. In one area, the act will make things worse, from the perspective of these provinces. Under the current act, youth charged with serious crimes can be tried in adult court, a transfer that also lifts the veil of secrecy shrouding information on young offenders.

Under the proposed act, all trials of young people, no matter how serious the charge, will take place in the youth court where age-appropriate due process protections apply, including the prohibition on information release. Transferring violent young offenders to adult court, the Justice Department claims, does not adequately respect the rights of young people.

Only after a trial and conviction, can an application be made to have an adult sentence imposed. This is a very dicey proposition, with civil liberties implications. How can an adult sentence arise out of a trial geared to juvenile sentences? Can this be just?

The bill will also direct youth serving adult sentences to youth facilities. This, too, is highly questionable. It potentially mixes young offenders convicted of minor crimes with older youth convicted of murder, rape and repeated violent offences. In many cases, the best of bad alternatives might well be to have violent youth serve their sentences in adult facilities. But the new law eliminates flexibility.

From the perspective of those who want a tougher approach to juvenile crime, the act contains only one significant improvement. The new Act would allow violent offenders – those charged with offenses like murder -- as young as 14 to receive adult sentences, though, as noted, provinces can opt out of this provision.

The Youth Criminal Justice Act is more of the same old, same old. Quebec’’s complaints seem difficult to justify, but the provinces, which believe Canada needs a tougher, more transparent approach to young offenders, have every reason to be disappointed. Those provinces will continue to be squeezed by the federal straightjacket.