Youth Criminal Justice System

Within the context of Canadian criminal justice, the youth crime is relatively minor yet teeming with excitement and interest, lying at the center of public concern over society’s future adult citizens. In its history, three different forms of legislation have come to pass; the Juvenile Delinquents Act of 1908 remained in place for seventy-six years before being replaced with the Young Offender’s Act in 1984, which was then replaced with the Youth Criminal Justice Act in 2002 (Smandych, 2016: 5). Clearly, the issue of youth justice is not lost on ‘The Great White North.' In the textbook Youth at Risk and Youth Justice: A Canadian Overview, scholars address many factors surrounding youth crime and youth criminal justice, including the overrepresentation
Data from Calverly, Cotter, and Halla (pg. 299) demonstrates that although Aboriginal youth aged 12 to 17 makes up only 7% of young people in Canada, they composed approximately 39% of youth admitted to custody in Alberta in 2011/2012. In fact, data from Statistics Canada shows that young Aboriginals are overrepresented in the justice system in every Canadian province except Newfoundland and Labrador; Alberta, in particular, shows the most severe overrepresentation of the provinces (pg. 299). Aboriginal youth were also overrepresented in Calgary’s Youth Court, though Aboriginal youth make up “about 7 per cent” of the population, they formed 28% of the total cases I observed in Calgary’s youth court. Also interesting was that out of the number of Aboriginal children present in court, 17% were in custody compared to 39% in Canada (2010, pg. 299). When asked, the presiding judge informed me that this seemed slightly high in her experience within Calgary, but commented that she had noted more Aboriginal young offenders in rural communities, particularly those located closer to reserves. This information combined with the geographical clustering of youth homes and correctional facilities in Calgary and Edmonton could serve as an explanation as to why the majority (88%) of
Joe Solanto examines the effect of trauma caused by residential schools, and colonialization in general, on the Aboriginal community and subsequent generations of Aboriginal youth. Solanto explains how substance abuse employed to cope with the pain of the experience of residential schooling became a learned behavior that is still used to nullify the effects of more contemporary issues such as “poverty, violence and family breakdown” (pg. 302), which consequentially puts Aboriginal youth at risk. While details of substance abuse and underage drinking were not typically discussed, a small cluster of Aboriginal youth did admit (or imply) that they had troubles with alcohol, including a 13-year-old girl who also admitted to struggling with a drug addiction. Brown (2007, pg. 301) suggests that Aboriginal youth experience shame as a result of feeling as though they do not “fit in” with the rest of society, and this may lead to substance abuse as well as looking for acceptance or a sense of cohesion in alternative groups such as gangs. In addition to providing a sense of acceptance a form of community, gangs offer the attractive prospects of status, protection, wealth, and power within the context of a brave and loyal “substitute family,” making membership particularly appealing and the community particularly influential (pg. 306). Gang membership may also be introduced and encouraged by family members who are already members themselves (pg. 306); this may be particularly true