Get tough on crime, but not on youth
The Harper government's law-and-order agenda took a direct hit last week when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in favour of a differential treatment of young offenders. The ruling struck down a section of the 5-year-old Youth Criminal Justice Act, which stipulated that convicted violent offenders between the ages of 14 and 17 would receive adult sentences unless they could convince their judges that they should be spared.
The ruling comes at a good time. The government is pressing for even tougher penalties for young offenders than those required in the existing legislation - against the vocal advice of most provinces, including Quebec.
The provinces argue that based on their experience, young offenders should be treated differently from adults. They lack the maturity and judgment to appreciate fully the consequences of their acts, the provinces say. In a news conference last week, an official of New Brunswick's Child and Youth Advocate office said, the Globe and Mail reported, that many young people who end up in detention suffer from mental-health problems that are not treated properly.
In its 5-4 ruling Friday, the Supreme Court made the same point, saying that young people "have diminished moral culpability due to their developmental stage." They should, therefore, be "differently accountable" for their crimes.
The Harper government, spurred on by a number of high-profile cases, has argued against separate justice systems. Violent crime deserves serious sanction, it said, whether committed by a 16-year-old or a 60-year-old.
If minors were developmentally capable of responding to harsh punishment the same way adults can, there might be merit in pursuing a tougher young-offender law. But to the best of their ability to determine, experts say this is not so.
What is also not the case is that youth crime has spiralled out of control in Canada. There are annual fluctuations, but youth crime has dropped 25 per cent in the past quarter century - a little-known fact.
Spectacular incidents like the the 2005 Boxing Day shootout in Toronto, when rival gangs opened fire in the crowded downtown core, leaving 15-year-old Jane Creba dead and another six shoppers wounded, influence citizens and governments alike. But of the eight men charged in that case, only one was a minor. The shootings were a crime, but not, except for one teenager, a youth crime. Youth crimes look more like this recent assault in Cornwall: A 15-year-old girl hit another 15-year-old girl, was taken into custody, charged with assault and then released.
Being tough on crime should mean using the best means available to eradicate it. That won't necessarily mean jail.
Editorial
20 May 2008