Why Do We Think Young Women Are Committing More Violent Offences? - Page 2

The YOA is based on youth-positive principles and it is distressing to observe continued attempts to erode its fundamental tenets and guiding principles. Regressive changes have failed youth and further marginalized many with special needs, particularly young women.

The YOA calls for the least restrictive interventions possible for young people. In fact, it calls for an examination of all other youth-serving systems (such as education, child welfare, and children's mental health) prior to invoking its provisions. Alternative or diversionary options are entrenched in the act. Paradoxically, the past decade has seen the opposite result. In many schools and group homes, for instance, matters that would previously have been dealt with by an internal administrative authority are increasingly likely to be referred to the juvenile justice system.

Rather than nurturing our youth, we are scapegoating and disposing of them as though they are expendable human refuse.

Rather than adopt a "zero violence" approach, "zero tolerance" policies are resulting in ever increasing numbers of disenfranchised youth being jettisoned out of schools and communities, and usually through, rather then into, a "thinning social safety net.

Rather than nurturing our youth, we arc scapegoating and disposing of them as though they are expendable human refuse. Statistics reveal that there has been an overall reduction in youth crime generally, as well as a relatively low incidence of violent and repeat youth crime more specifically.

These figures notwithstanding, police, reporters, and communities continue to blame the YOA for crime, quickly criminalize the behaviour of young people, and throw them to the wide, expensive, and ineffective net of the juvenile justice system.

Young people are best served by supportive and proactive interventions, as opposed to the punitive and reactive approaches characterized by and endemic to the criminal justice system. Indeed, there is more than sufficient evidence that preventative approaches to crime are far more cost-effective than current criminal justice approaches. Accordingly, we should focus on developing and enhancing high quality supportive services for children, youth, and adults alike—from universal and enriched health, child care, and educational opportunities to effective gender, anti-poverty, anti-racism, and conflict resolution programs. Recognizing the current stresses of fiscal restraint and downsizing, schools might re-direct efforts to consolidating creative energies and encouraging an empowered student body to provide peer and mentoring support, for example.

Professional training on the developmental, educational, and psycho-social attributes of young people should be a prerequisite for those working in the youth justice system. In addition, the high number of young offenders who have been abused must be recognized and reflected in professional training of those who come in contact with young offenders. It has been reported that at least 50 percent of the young offenders serving time in British Columbia had previously been sexually abused. Even higher percentages have been reported in Alberta and Manitoba studies. Similarly, a 1994 Ontario study conducted by Margaret Shaw revealed that of the young women in custody, 63 percent had been physically abused and 58 percent had been sexually abused. Given these statistics, training for dealing with abuse victims is very important.

In order to ensure significant short- and long-term change, proactive education and training programs are required for judges, lawyers, probation officers, police officers, and all other youth justice personnel. The reorientation of those involved with young people is a prerequisite component to the development of positive and effective change within the youth justice and all other youth-serving systems. And young people themselves, as well as frontline workers, should be involved in the development of professional training, as well as in services and programs designed to address the needs of youth.

Police, reporters, and communities blame the YOA for crime, quickly criminalize the behavior of young people, and throw them to the expensive and ineffective net of the juvenile justice system.

Providing supportive and empowering services to young people at the time of their first contact with the youth justice system generally reduces the likelihood of future "criminal" involvement. Of course, these services should not exist only within the youth justice system because that would likely criminalize youth who are simply in need of some supportive services. Preventative and proactive approaches need to emphasized within the child welfare, educational, medical, and mental health systems as well.

Custody as a Last Resort—Not

In terms of custodial sanctions, the YOA stipulates that such dispositions must only be used as a last resort. Further, when custody is resorted to, open custody should be considered before secure or closed custody.