I have not seen the study yet so it may be gobbledegook but, if it is solid, then it is worth close consideration. Again, we need to focus on the goal of reducing crime rather than merely being "tough on crime".
http://www.nationalpost.com/m/story.html?id=2209970&s=Today's%20Newspaper
Youth crime law praised in U.K. study
Harper has called act a failure, pledges rewrite
Janice Tibbetts, Canwest News Service
Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009
Canadian laws on youth crime are being held up by British researchers as a shining example of success even as the Harper 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 met its goal of cutting the crime rate and incarcerating fewer young people.
...
The act, adopted by the former 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 a dramatic 36% between 2003 and 2008, according to the latest figures available from Statistics Canada.
James Morton
1100-5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4
416 225 2777
4 comments:
the author's background makes the whole thing suspect
I love that line about tougher sentences and more accountability.
The YCJA covers that. Heinous crimes warrant an adult sentence.
Drives me nuts how the conservatives constantly mischaracterize this legislation and no one ever calls them on it.
I hope someone will make Harper and the CPC address the report by the Ombudsman regarding the young woman, who committed suicide while incarcerated, after many transfers--some deemed unneccessary, isolation and inadequate treatment. The report made very clear the problems and if more people actually knew about it, their opinion of crime and punishment might change. LK
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