Implementing the Young Offenders Act in Ontario: Issues of Principles, Programmes and Power

Abstract

This article explores the implementation of the Young Offenders Act in the most populous of Canada's ten provinces, Ontario. It argues that the original principles and programmes upon which the Act was based were not followed when the legislation was introduced. Research has demonstrated that rather than adopting alternative measures approaches which emphasise the special needs of delinquents, the approach is increasingly one of imprisonment. Increasing levels of investment in the carceral response has meant that community programming has not been implemented in any meaningful way. The Community Options Programme is described as a direction for future treatment of youth under the law. It is suggested that collaboration between social control agencies to co‐ordinate approaches is long overdue. The economies of community based responses on both the economic and human level are suggested.