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Soc of Law Essay - Grade: A
Sociology of Law (SOCI 4270H)
Trent University
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Running head: YCJA as the Best Form of Youth Legislation YCJA as the Best Form of Youth Legislation Sociology of Law 4270H Final Essay 1 Running head: YCJA as the Best Form of Youth Legislation Since 1908, there have been many changes, improvements and setbacks within the juvenile justice system in Canada. This began with the Juvenile Delinquents Act (JDA) in 1908, Young Offenders Act (YOA) in 1984, and the current Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) in 2003. Since the introduction of the YCJA there have been many amendments and reviews to follow, only improving the effectiveness of this act. Between the years 2000-2014, the youth crime rate has declined 42% and fewer youth were accused of crime compared to that of adults aged 18-24 (Allen & Superle, 2014). For many reasons, youth criminal behaviour is very important to a society and treating/deterring it is significant for the societies future adult population. The YCJA has provided Canada with the ability to hold youth accountable for their actions but doing so in a way that teaches, deters them from crime, and emphasizes the laws within Canada. The YCJA has taken the approach of rehabilitation on crime, including violent crime, which in turn has decreased the youth population involved with crime since its introduction in 2003. The YCJA takes a more sociological approach to law in terms of considering the intersections such as class, gender, mental health and race, that may have an impact on youth’s involvement on crime, and how these intersections are important to address. The Youth Criminal Justice Act is an effective piece of legislation for Canadian youth as it considers the different positions of young offenders and opts for a more sociological, rehabilitative approach to youth crime. In contrast to the previous legislation, the many counteracts, and its weaknesses, the YCJA is still the best legal approach to address youth crime in Canada. To start, the YCJA has identified the many reasons as to why it is an important piece of legislation within Canada. The YCJA sets out a framework in which provides a 2 Running head: YCJA as the Best Form of Youth Legislation Although the YCJA takes a different approach to youth crime than past legislation, its main goal is to “protect the public by holding youth accountable through measures that are proportionate to the seriousness of the offence and the degree of responsibility of the young person” (Government of Canada, Department of Justice, Electronic Communications, 2017). This provides a well-rounded punishment that will not only protect society, but also possibly protect the child from furthering with a life of crime. The YCJA takes a particular interest in the fact that youth should not be within the adult justice system as they lack the maturity of adults, and therefore need to be informed. The goals of the YCJA that surround this idea are their measures of accountability being consistent with a young persons’ reduced level of maturity, procedural protections are enhanced, rehabilitation and reintegration are given emphasis and a timely intervention is recognized. (Government of Canada, Department of Justice). As this is noted in the goals of the YCJA it is important to state that these were aspects missing within the JDA and the YOA. The YCJA does stress that these youth offenders are to be held accountable for their actions accordingly but done so in a fair way, appropriate to the seriousness of the offence. Interventions within the YCJA include; reinforcing respect for societal values, encouraging the repair of harm done, meaningful to the young person, respect gender, ethnicity, culture and linguistic differences and respond to Aboriginal young persons needs appropriately (Government of Canada, Department of Justice). These goals coincide with the sociological intersections present within the YCJA that are important to addressing these youths needs appropriately. As pointed out in the Focal Point article, there are multiple disorders, clinical conditions and societal values to be considered when youth 4 Running head: YCJA as the Best Form of Youth Legislation offenders are involved within the law, just as an adult, even surrounding violent crimes. This stage becomes critical for future prevention as a society. Moving on from the goals that play a large role in the effectiveness of the YCJA, it is important to discuss the extrajudicial measures of consequence, especially rehabilitation and reintegration. Children and Youth Crime Prevention through Social Development examines the idea that incarceration only creates more issues for delinquent youth as youth are more likely to be pushed into crime by experiencing incarceration (Crime Prevention Through Social Development, n.). Through the YCJA, Canada has attempted to take steps toward decreasing the youth incarceration rate in order to deter youth from crime. When a youth becomes involved with the law in the form of incarceration, they are exposed to much more criminal behaviour than they may have been before incarceration which does increase their likelihood of reoffending. The YCJA therefore requires the police to take alternative measures such as rehabilitation before giving jail time (Crime Prevention Through Social Development, n.). This indicates that for youth, their unique situations are considered when sentencing is taking place because their upbringing (or social equalities/inequalities they may face) plays a major role in what they view as their social norms. In this case, it is important to consider these circumstances and look for approaches that may reform these actions when they reach the age of adult court and their actions have much more serious consequences. Rehabilitation aims to deter this behaviour before it is taken too far. The YCJA emplaced principles that still protect the rights of the youth but ensure that they are being treated fairly in terms of their sentencing. In this case, it 5 Running head: YCJA as the Best Form of Youth Legislation their impulses (Roberts, 2004, p. 304). Through their social integration and upbringing, youth learn how to interaction with society, some therefore have a better understanding than others. The youth who suffer from not receiving this treatment are often more susceptible to the influence of others and lack the ability to act more independently. This indicates that there should be a substantial difference in the severity of the sentences given to youth across the age range within the juvenile justice system as they become more mature and have been exposed to reality (Roberts, 2004). A youth offender can however, be charged under the adult court system under certain circumstances. These being; committing murder in the first of second degree, attempted murder, manslaughter, and aggravated sexual assault (Robert, 2004). At the age of 14 years or older, the youth can be convicted as an adult after a third offence of serious violent crimes is committed. At this stage, it is obvious that the extrajudicial measures are not helping the youth, as they are not taking these measures seriously and more action needs to be taken to protect communities from their harm. But they have at least been given the opportunity to stay out of the adult court system. It is important to consider the affects that the YCJA will have on youth crime reduction over all as these reparative and restorative sentences are a more effective way to provide consequences to youth’s criminal actions. Anand & Sanjeev states that the YCJA does provide a much clearer piece of legislation for court systems to follow, as compared to the YOA (Anand & Sanjeev, 2003, p. 963). Continuing on with the topic of youth violent crime, there was an increase in youth crime among males in the late 1980s. This enforced laws that were reforming the legislation to “get tough” and “crack down” on youth crime in order to deter this 7 Running head: YCJA as the Best Form of Youth Legislation increase (Feld, 1998). These “get tough” and “crack down” tactics were enforced more so through the YCJA, therefore resulting in the decrease of the number of youth involved in violent crimes between the years 2000-2014 as mentioned previously. This need for the “tough on crime” approaches resulted in many youth being tried as an adult within the adult court systems and therefore sentenced to adult prisons. Feld (1998) discusses that “sentencing young offenders as adults increases the number of chronological juveniles confined in adult prisons and poses substantial challenges for adult correctional officials” (p). With that being said, this enforced the enactment of the YCJA because the need for keeping youth out of adult prisons while protecting society was necessary at this stage. Although violent crimes were not as prevalent within the youth population as they are for the adult population, crimes of assault among youth were. In 2006, youth accused of assault represented nearly 80% of those arrested for violent crime (Taylor-Butts & Bressan). In this instance, there is an obvious need for a re-evaluation on how to handle youth when it comes to assault. Using the current legislation in order to examine the increase of youth assault, it is important to look at what causes these violent acts in the first place. This could be for reasons such as; mental health, socialization, and even social barriers such as class, race and gender. The sociological and rehabilitative aspects of the YCJA are important when addressing the need for deterring youth violence around assault. Body 5: Why is it the best approach using these goals? The approach of the YCJA has encouraged a healthier community for youth altogether through the use of rehabilitation and the supporting of crime prevention. Nicholas Bala & Sanjeev Anand discuss this approach using these goals to keep youth 8 Running head: YCJA as the Best Form of Youth Legislation legislation in place at their arrest. In other words, this goal gives youth a second chance at understanding the law and being able to participate in society at a healthy level. With approaches such as these, it gives the youth the ability to view these authority figures as people there to inform them and keep them safe from finding themselves in further trouble after their warnings are up. Another approach that is taken with the YCJA and its perspective goals is the youth’s individual case. Youth, just as adults do, suffer from inequalities within the social system, as well as the legal system. These could be from race, mental health, and social class which all intersect in some way to create a difficult time for certain persons among the legal system. The YCJA aims to avoid these stereotypes and treat every incident like it is a new case. Most importantly, looking at the youth’s individual case, considering the possible intersections and extrajudicial measures that could be followed before extreme measures are taken. This is the key when it comes to sentencing youth, in order to understand where the help is needed to decrease their involvement in crime. Kurlycheck and Johnson (2004) identify that there is an age below which criminal acts committed by youth have a reduced consequence, put in place to achieve a more fair trial for youth with less life experience (p. 488). In all, there are many goals and approaches that consider the importance of acknowledging the unique differences between adult crime and youth crime. While looking at all the positive aspects of the YCJA, many people would argue that there are still negatives that come along and some negatives that do take away from the effectiveness of the YCJA. To name a few of the counteracts made against the YJCA there are; using punishment disguised as treatment to create appeal, punishment 10 Running head: YCJA as the Best Form of Youth Legislation becoming ineffective in this sense, the focus on youth criminals takes away from the victims, the use of a wide variety of interpretations in court, and why there should not be a separate court system in the first place. Each of these can be seen as ways the YCJA needs to improve or they can help to better the system for the greater good of youth. To start with the first counteract mentioned, punishment disguised as treatment in order to create appeal to the greater society can be seen as problematic as youth may not be receiving the help they need with this. Or in some cases, the treatment plans are not followed through with and therefore, do not have the success they should have with the youth. Bazemore & Umbreit have explained that because of this inconsistency, juvenile justice professionals have been known to not take these forms of rehabilitation as seriously (Bazemore & Umbreit, 1995, p. 298). If there is an issue with juvenile justice members taking the rehabilitation forms of punishment as non-serious measures, this becomes a very ineffective way to help youth. Using the youth’s unique situations in this case could work in their favour or it could work against them. As Bazemore & Umbreit also mentioned, punishment may become ineffective in terms of how the youth view the seriousness and how the court chooses to deliver the punishment to the individual youth (Bazemore & Umbreit, 1995). This is prevalent in the sense that the YCJA has an altered form of punishment, such as rehabilitation treatment, that may not be taken as seriously as some more threatening punishments such as jail time or large monetary fines. The time spent here dealing with the youth involved in these crimes then takes away from the victims who are trying to achieve justice for the wrongs that have been done to them. 11 Running head: YCJA as the Best Form of Youth Legislation system, it is part of our society. Going back as far as Emile Durkheim’s theory on the Division of Labour, there is a clear distinction of where these stereotypes and inequality issues became imbedded in the law, even when it involves youth. The division of labour came to surround sociology in the sense that it was structured around society and how it came to change with its growing population in order to survive. In a sense, it acted in a way to keep society functioning at a proper level. Durkheim believed that the division of labour increased the skills of workers; so applying this theory to individuals, more specifically youth then looks at their intellectual development of youth in society (Giddens, 1984, p). The division of labour also discusses the embodiment of being attracted to what resembles us, and the opposite is often not as frequently encountered, but we are often drawn to people who do not resemble us, in this case it is youth delinquents. (Giddens, 1984, p. 16). This can be examined through youth as they deviate from the norm, and cause authority to be drawn to this feature. Discussing Durkheim’s theory then ties in the concept of mechanical solidarity and organic solidarity as they relate to the youth criminal justice system. When it comes to these two concepts, they can be defined in terms of youth in the justice system because mechanical solidarity ties in the cohesion and integration brought about within a society created by the division of labour. Organic solidarity ties in where the youth becomes more dependent on their social cohesion in terms of how their unique differences create a sense of interdependence among the rest of the population (Giddens, 1984). These specifically coincide with creating the division of labour by putting some people with less cohesion at risk of more criminalization. When using 13 Running head: YCJA as the Best Form of Youth Legislation Durkheim’s theory of the Division of Labour in Society, it is clear that the organization can cause oppression but it is not through the institution of the criminal procedure, but that of the social structure itself (Giddens1984, p. 52). Therefore, the use of the YCJA considers these social structures that put certain youth populations at a higher risk of criminalization. Sociological aspects of law within the youth criminal justice system continues into the youth and mental health realm. Considering the large amount of youth that have mental illness that could potentially affect their ability to understand right from wrong, it is important to consider the intersection of the law and mental health in youth. Disorders such as conduct disorder, substance abuse, learning disabilities, physical and sexual abuse, and anxiety disorders are common among young offenders. With this in mind, the YCJA’s aim to use the rehabilitation treatment becomes important because it can help the youth learn to cope properly to avoid future disputes with the law and help them recover from any substance abuse issues they may face. These mental health issues can be tied to other aspects of their life such as their race, class and gender within the justice system due to the already perceived stereotypes which Durkheim identified within his Division of Labour theory. This was demonstrated through the way in which our society is constructed to survive, which put a level of inequality on individuals who did not possess an average mental health. In this case, these youth may believe because of what society has already perceived of them, it indicates that this is the behaviour they are supposed to take on. As Focal Point indicates, the amount of children and adolescents who are not in the juvenile justice system with these disorders or conditions are not as high as those who are in 14 Running head: YCJA as the Best Form of Youth Legislation a way that incorporates society, as well as the law. In conclusion, the YCJA has proven to be the most successful piece of youth legislation to date because of its consideration of the different positions of young offenders and opts for a more sociological, rehabilitative approach to youth crime. In contrast to the previous legislation, the many counteracts, and its weaknesses, the YCJA is still the best legal approach to address youth crime in Canada. References Allen, M., & Superle, T. (2016, February 17). Youth crime in Canada, 2014 Youth crime in Canada, 2014. Retrieved October 17, 2017, from statscan.gc/ pub/85-002-x/2016001/article/14309-eng Anand, S. (2002). Crafting youth sentences: The roles of rehabilitation, proportionality, restraint, restorative justice, and race under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Alta. L. Rev., 40, 943. Bala, N., & Anand, S. (2004). The First Months under the Youth Criminal Justice Act: A Survey and Analysis of Case Law. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Retrieved October 17, 2017, from utpjournals/doi/pdf/10.3138/cjccj.46.3.251 Bazemore, G., & Umbreit, M. (1995). Rethinking the sanctioning function in juvenile court: Retributive or restorative responses to youth crime. NCCD news, 41(3), 296-316. Corrado, R. R., Gronsdahl, K., & MacAlister, D. (2007). The Youth Criminal Justice Act: Can the Supreme Court of Canada balance the competing and conflicting models of youth justice. Crim. LQ, 53, 14. Cotterrell, R. (1998). Why Must Legal Ideas be Interpreted Sociologically? Journal of Law and Society, 25(2), 171-192. 16 Running head: YCJA as the Best Form of Youth Legislation Feld, B. (1998). Abolish the Juvenile Court: Youthfulness, Criminal Responsibility, and Sentencing Policy. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. Retrieved October 17, 2017, from scholarlycommons.law.northwestern/cgi/viewcontent.cgi? article=6943&context=jclc Giddens. A. (1984). Theoretical Traditions in The Social Sciences. Retrieved November 24, 2017, from 14.139.206:8080/jspui/bitstream/1/1970/1/Durkheim, %20Emile%20-%20The%20Division%20of%20Labour%20in%20Society Government of Canada, Department of Justice, Electronic Communications. (2015, March, 05). Overview of the Youth Criminal Justice Act Summary and Background. Retrieved November 25, 2017, from canada.justice.gc/eng/cj-jp/yj-jj/toolsoutils/sheets-feuillets/oycja-alssj.html Government of Canada, Department of Justice, Electronic Communications. (2017, August 08). The Youth Criminal Justice Act Summary and Background. Retrieved November 25, 2017 from, justice.gc/eng/cj-jp/yj-jj/tools-outils/backhist.html Kuehn, S. (2010). Youth probation officers’ interpretation and implementation of the YCJA: a comparison of the successes and challenges in 2004 versus 2007. Retrieved November 24, 2017, from summit.sfu/item/10047 Kurlycheck, M., & Johnson, B. (2004). The Juvenile Penalty: A Comparison of Juvenile and Young Adults sentencing Outcomes in Criminal Court. Criminology. Retrieved October 17, 2017, from crim.umd/sites/ccjs.umd.edu/files/pubs/juvenilepenalty.pdf Research and Training Centre for Pathways to Positive Futures, Portland State University. (n.). Improving Lives of Young People with Serious Mental Health Conditions Through Research & Training. Retrieved November 24, 2017, from https:// pathwaysrtc.pdx/ Roberts, J. (2004). Harmonizing the sentencing of young and adult offenders: A comparison of the Youth Criminal Justice Act and Part XXIII of the Criminal Code. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 46(3), 301-326. Taylor-Butts, A., & Bressan, A. (2008). Youth crime in canada, 2006. Juristat: Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, 28(3), 1-15. Retrieved from p2048web2.trentu.ca.cat1.lib.trentu:8080/login?url=search-proquestcom.cat1.lib.trentu/docview/216181454?accountid=14391 17
Soc of Law Essay - Grade: A
Course: Sociology of Law (SOCI 4270H)
University: Trent University
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