The Impact of Detention on Youth Outcomes: A Rapid Evidence Review

While there is ample research examining the short- and long-term effects of juvenile incarceration (broadly defined), less is known about the specific consequences of the most common form of youth incarceration, juvenile detention. We conducted a Rapid Evidence Review (RER), limiting our search to the past 10 years to include studies that captured modern juvenile justice practices, to assess the body of literature evaluating the effects of juvenile detention on youth outcomes. Our initial search yielded over 1,800 articles, but only three ultimately met criteria for inclusion in our review. We conclude that there is a profound lack of research regarding the consequences of juvenile detention, an issue that affects a large number of youth in the United States.

Literacy Practices of Youth Experiencing Incarceration: Reading and Writing as Points of Regulation and Escape

LIS research on youth incarceration frequently highlights literacy and education as means by which youth may escape or evade systems of incarceration These adult-structured positions often fail to take into account the perspectives and experiences of youth who are actively experiencing incarceration. Through an analysis of youth contributions to The Beat Within, this research includes the perspectives of youth who are incarcerated in order to build an understanding of how literacy, representational materials and education factor into how they navigate the systems of surveillance, policing and incarceration that shape their lives.

The Misinformed Versus the Misunderstood

The Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) came into effect in 2003 as a response to the overincarceration of youth that occurred under its predecessor, the Young Offender’s Act (YOA). Parliament’s intention was clear in repealing and replacing the YOA in favour of the more restorative YCJA: no longer would custody be considered an appropriate response to youth crime. More than a decade has passed since the introduction of the YCJA, and statistics reveal that it has had incredible success in reducing the rate of overall youth incarceration. What remains problematic, however, is the persistent and prevailing issue of the overincarceration of Indigenous youth. The purpose of this article is to unpack the complexity of this issue, identify its causes, and to ultimately propose different strategies to help reduce a custodial response to Indigenous youth crime. In achieving this goal, the article will begin with an overview of the YCJA and an exploration of its restorative provisions to argue that the legislation itself is not at fault. The article will then provide current statistics on the overincarceration of Indigenous youth, and subsequently, examine some of the most popular explanations as to why the issue continues to persist. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the article will conclude by proposing several strategies – such as the implementation of more Aboriginal Youth Courts – to better address the overincarceration of Indigenous youth moving forward.

The Overlap Between the Child Welfare and Youth Justice Systems in Manitoba, Canada

IntroductionManitoba has one of the highest rates of children taken into care of child welfare services (Child and Family Services; CFS) in the world, and also one of the highest youth incarceration rates in Canada. Policy-makers recognize there is overlap between these systems; the extent of that overlap is unknown. Objectives and ApproachWe linked CFS, Justice, and Population Health Registry data to quantify the overlap between having a history of CFS during childhood (0-17 years) and being charged with a crime as a youth (12-17 years). Using a cohort approach, we selected all individuals in Manitoba who were born in 1988 (N=28,178); those not in the province at any time from 12-17 years were excluded, leaving a final cohort of 18,182. The cohort was divided into 3 groups according to CFS involvement: CFS out-of-home care (1,148); CFS in-home services (3,395); no CFS (13,639). Criminal charges between 12-17 years were identified. Results6.3% of our cohort had CFS out-of-home care, 18.7% received CFS in-home services, and 75% had no CFS involvement. 10.5% of the cohort were charged of a crime between 12-17 years. Almost half (46.6%) of youth who had CFS out-of-home care had criminal charges, compared to 19.4% of youth who had CFS in-home services, and 5.3% of youth with no CFS. Despite accounting for only 6.3% of the cohort, youth who had out-of-home care accounted for 28.0% of youth with criminal charges. Indigenous (First Nations (FN) and Metis) children/youth were over-represented in both systems; for example, 24.5% of FN youth had been in care compared to 3.1% of non-Indigenous; and 32.2% of FN youth were charged with a crime compared to 6.6% of non-Indigenous youth. Conclusion/ImplicationsThere is substantial overlap between the child welfare and youth justice systems, with overrepresentation of Indigenous youth in both systems. Culturally appropriate programs and policies aimed at supporting parents, families and communities to care for their own children will likely have long-term positive impacts on the youth justice system.

Feeling alive: Voices of incarcerated youth in We Are Alive

This article presents a case study of a documentary film to demonstrate the need to look beyond conventions for insight into youth incarceration. Yau Ching’s (2010) We Are Alive documents a series of media production workshops conducted in juvenile correctional centres and training centres in Hong Kong, Macao and Sapporo, Japan. We Are Alive is a significant media text for analysis for two reasons. First, it is a youth-led documentary that offers a glimpse into settings that are often inaccessible to researchers, and second, it adopts a comparative perspective on three East Asian societies. The film offers rich data for sociological analysis as a point of access to understanding the lives of young people detained in correctional institutions in Asia. In analysing it, this article engages the contesting issues of social conformity, criminal justice, youth resistance and teenage masculinities and femininities through a close reading informed by a theoretical matrix comprising queer theory and cultural studies in an inter-Asian context.

Aboriginal Youth Overrepresentation in Canadian Correctional Services: Judicial and Non-Judicial Actors and Influence

The crisis of Aboriginal over-incarceration in Canada is one of the most well-documented features of our Criminal Justice System. This crisis is especially profound in the youth context. While the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) has reduced Canada’s overall youth incarceration rate in recent years, the relative proportion of detained Aboriginal youth has actually increased. This article explores Aboriginal youth overrepresentation in correctional services under the YCJA in an attempt to discern why it has been less effective at reducing custody rates for Aboriginal youth compared to their non-Aboriginal peers. This article suggests that the YCJA has failed to remedy Aboriginal youth overrepresentation because it has focused too heavily on sentencing principles and judicial discretion. It is argued that more attention must be paid to the earlier stages of the criminal justice process during which Police, Crown Attorneys, and Probation Officers exercise low-visibility discretion in ways that disproportionately circumscribe the eventual range of sentencing options available to Aboriginal youth offenders.