The Declining Role of Rehabilitation in Canadian Juvenile Justice: Implications of Underlying Theory in the Young Offenders Act

1986 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-322
Author(s):  
Alan Leschied ◽  
Paul Gendreau
Keyword(s):  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
Young Offenders ◽  
Underlying Theory ◽  
Young Offenders Act

The Young Offenders Act: A Revolution in Canadian Juvenile Justice

1992 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 232
Author(s):  
J. Thomas Dalby ◽  
Alan W. Leschied ◽  
Peter G. Jaffe ◽  
Wayne Willis
Keyword(s):  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
Young Offenders ◽  
Young Offenders Act

Examining the Needs of Youth in Secure Custody: Why We Need to “Recreate the Wheel” in Canadian Juvenile Justice*

1989 ◽  
Vol 34 (7) ◽  
pp. 675-679
Author(s):  
Alan W. Leschied ◽  
Ken E. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Young Offenders ◽  
Young Offender ◽  
Considerable Variability ◽  
Rehabilitation Treatment ◽  
History Data ◽  
Background History ◽  
Young Offenders Act

The current study reviews the personal characteristics of 32 consecutive admissions to a secure custody centre in one southwest Ontario jurisdiction under the Young Offenders Act. Results indicated that there was considerable variability amongst the group regarding court history and the seriousness of the charge on which committal was made. Background history data suggested that the problems of youths committed to secure custody reflect considerable difficulties within families and school. The discussion questions whether the youths in this group are better served through the dispositions emphasizing custody-deterrence or rehabilitation-treatment. Implications for young offender policy are also presented.

The Young Offenders Act and Juvenile Justice in the United States: Perspectives on Recent Reform Proposals

1991 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 45-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher P. Manfredi
Keyword(s):  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
The United States ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
Young Offenders ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Recent Reform ◽  
Legislative Reforms ◽  
Juvenile Justice Policy ◽  
State Legislative ◽  
Young Offenders Act

Abstract Recent proposals to reform the Young Offenders Act have sought to address the difficult question of the proper response to youth who commit especially serious offences. This article evaluates these proposals from the perspective or recent developments in US juvenile justice policy that have also been designed to meet serious and chronic youth criminality. The article suggests that a series of US state legislative reforms, in which individual responsibility and system accountability replace rehabilitation as the dominant objective of juvenile justice policy, offers a comprehensive, if imperfect, model for reform.

Young Offenders, ‘Secure Colleges’ and Reforming Criminals

2015 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 211-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zia Akhtar
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Juvenile Justice System ◽  
Criminal Responsibility ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Young Offenders ◽  
The Uk ◽  
And Control

The UK government has decided on a policy goal that is set out in the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill 2014. This goal is to invest in ‘Secure Colleges’, which are institutions planned to make young criminals ‘better citizens not better criminals’. The question is: What is the role of punishment: deterrence, incapacitation or rehabilitation? This article considers the juvenile justice system in Scotland with reference to the objectives set out in the Kilbrandon Report in 1964 and evaluates the perspective of early criminologists who state that offenders exercise a free choice in embarking on a life of crime. It is also evaluated in the light of those empirical studies that expose the harsh discipline and control in prisons as ‘oppressive’ and not likely to reform the offenders. The UK policy regarding young offenders underwent a change after the James Bulger murder in 1993 and became a deterrence-based approach. This has led to measures on both sides of the border which were retributive, such as the lowering of the age of criminal responsibility and the early intervention of probation services. This article considers the modern themes of juvenile justice and argues that the ‘Secure Colleges’ will be a corrective institution that should inculcate a more informed policy towards reintegration for the young offenders so that they emerge from the criminal justice system as improved citizens after completing their sentence.

Practicing in France What Americans Have Preached: The Response of French Judges to Juveniles

1988 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 467-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
James C. Hackler
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
North America ◽  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
Due Process ◽  
Group Home ◽  
Young Offenders ◽  
Community Settings ◽  
World War ◽  
The Public ◽  
Young Offenders Act

Despite a downturn in delinquency in North America, juvenile justice systems and the public act as if there has been an increase in delinquency. Calls for “get-tough” policies are common and the system is responding accordingly. The recent Canadian Young Offenders Act also reflects this theme. However, most criminologists argue for keeping juveniles in normal community settings, and France may have accomplished what these scholars have been recommending since World War II. Relatively few youths are placed in closed custody. When a juvenile is being helped, the notion of punishment is set aside. For example, if a juvenile leaves a group home it is not an offense. Incarceration is not used when a youth fails to obey administrative rules. This paternalistic system pays minimal attention to due process, but it may avoid the negative aspects of North American systems while providing services that are utilized more effectively.

A Critique of the Principles of the Young Offenders Act*

1987 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 440-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
George A. Awad
Keyword(s):  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Due Process ◽  
Unique Feature ◽  
Juvenile Justice System ◽  
Legal Rights ◽  
Young Offenders ◽  
Clinical Process ◽  
Therapeutic State ◽  
Young Offenders Act

A unique feature of the Young Offenders Act is a section on the Principles of the Act. The principles clearly focus on the responsibility of young offenders, their legal rights, and the protection of society. The focus on the due process of the law is a welcome addition to the Juvenile Justice system. However, these principles do not recognize any other rights for adolescents, downgrade the importance of their needs, and do not take into account the cognitive, psychological and social functioning of adolescents. In addition, the principles implicitly reverse those important principles that have guided our society and the clinical process for more than a century; namely, a shift from a “therapeutic state” to a “legalistic state”, the roles of institutions in our society, and the adultomorphization of adolescence.

scholarly journals The Role of Crime Victims under the Youth Criminal Justice Act

1969 ◽  
pp. 965 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kent Roach
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Equal Opportunity ◽  
Crime Victims ◽  
Young Offenders ◽  
Youth Justice ◽  
Victim Satisfaction ◽  
Costs Of Crime ◽  
Youth Criminal Justice Act ◽  
Young Offenders Act

The author analyzes the role of victim involvement in extrajudicial and judicial measures under the Youth Criminal Justice Act and the overall direction of victim involvement and its possible impact on the development of youth justice. Unlike the Young Offenders Act, victim concerns are specifically recognized throughout the Youth Criminal Justice Act. With respect to judicial measures, reparation should be interpreted broadly to include young offenders' genuine attempts to make good the harms they have caused. The concept of reparation should provide an equal opportunity to pay the costs of crime. With respect to extrajudicial measures, the role of victims is difficult to assess. Tlie author encourages greater utilization of family conferences, as this extrajudicial measure has enjoyed success in New Zealand in reducing youth imprisonment and producing significant levels of victim satisfaction. Victims may well play an increased role under the Youth Criminal Justice Act but the actual effect of both punitive and non-punitive forms of victim involvement will depend on how the new Act is administered.

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