Why Do We Think Young Women Are Committing More Violent Offences? - Page 3

Secure custody was supposed to have been the absolute last resort in terms of sentencing under the Young Offenders Act. Moreover, it was envisioned that open custody would be easily distinguishable from secure custody, such as a group-home type of setting as opposed to an institution. In most provinces, however, the two forms of custody are virtually indistinguishable; most open custody settings are now institutional in nature.

There is a paucity of community-based alternatives for young people in general end young women in particular.

Where existing programs and services do not address the needs of young people or the protection of society, the first priority must be to address these service or programming deficits. Rather than resorting to the " adult" criminal justice context at ever earlier ages, the federal and provincial authorities should be focussing on redistributing the $170-million spent annually on federal transfers for youth justice to focus on the development and enhancement of youth-positive community-based dispositional options, improved educational and psycho-social programs, and services in community and institutional settings.

There is a paucity of community-based and therapeutic alternatives for young people in general and young women in particular. The federal Minister of Justice could address some of these issues through cost-sharing agreements with the provinces, Other than proposing legislative amendments. Legislation changes tend to be simplistic and diminish the pressure to create more proactive and preventative means of addressing complex issues and concerns. The federal government could reduce justice transfers for custody beds with a corresponding increase for community resource development for young people. Furthermore, provinces could be encouraged to develop more gender-specific and culturally appropriate services and programs for young people. Too frequently, the services and programs that do exist are ill equipped to deal with issues of "gender, race, class, and sexual orientation.

Young Women—Still Too Few to Count

All young people suffer as a result of the lack of adequate support services and other systems-based deficiencies. Those who work with young people will be all too familiar with the erosion of resources and support for our community-based support systems for youth. The relatively small numbers of young women who are criminalized and enter the system, as compared to young men, result in even fewer services for female young offenders in any community.

Young women appearing before the courts tend to have fewer charges against them than males.

Young women are disproportionately disadvantaged as a result of a lack of gender-focused community and institutional programming and services, and extremely limited access to open custody settings. The majority of young women who receive open custody dispositions must serve their sentences in secure custody and/or coed correctional facilities. Girls and young women also tend to have more limited access to the services and programs, both in the community and in institutions. In many young offender centres across the country, incidences of sexual assault and/or pregnancies during custody have led to the further segregation of young women in correctional facilities. Young women are in real need of women-centred approaches in the youth justice system, their needs are often ignored or at best subsumed by those of young men.

Staff also cite a complete lack of resources for young women in terms of job training (in the community or institutions), education with daycare for teenage mothers, or parenting programs. In addition, there are no provisions for pregnant teens within the institutions. Lack of medical staff also places limitations on the movement of pregnant youth to camps or open custody facilities.

The over-representation of young women in custody for administrative breaches (such as the non-payment of fines) and child welfare type concerns (such as child neglect) are further indicators of systemic bias. Canadian, American, British, and Australian studies of youth court charges and sentencing reveal that young women are disproportionately and overwhelmingly charged and imprisoned for administrative breaches, non-criminal behaviour, and non-status offences (such as traffic violations).

Of the very few who are arrested for crimes of violence, most of the situations involve young women reacting to violence perpetrated against them, or offences previously labelled as status offences that have now been reclassified as serious offences as a result of " zero tolerance." Obviously, we all wish to see a decrease in the use of violence in our communities. Criminalizing youth does not diminish violence, it merely legitimizes it in the hands of the state.

Young women appearing before the courts tend to have fewer charges against them than males. Systemic bias and discriminatory practices undergo a multiplier effect where gender, race, class, ethnicity and/or sexual orientation converge. The stereotype of girls becoming gun-toting gang robbers is simply not supported by statistics. That does not mean that there are not specific and egregious examples of young women committing violent offences. It does mean, however, that every time one such incident occurs, journalists and talk show hosts beat the bushes for other examples to support extreme interpretations of the event. Police officers, teachers, social workers, criminologists, and others asked to supply " expert" opinions have a responsibility to present an accurate picture when they choose to comment in such circumstances.