Review Essay: Change, Continuity, and Public Opinion in Youth Justice

Amending theYouth Criminal Justice Act, 2007–2012: dynamics and contingencies of a ‘transforming Canada’ agenda

“…Downplaying the report's reminder that this $99 billion consists primarily of 'intangible costs of pain, suffering, and loss of life, with an estimate of nearly $68.2 billion' (as read into parties' alleged concern about what the YCJA and other justice reforms would cost the provinces (Justice Minister Nicholson, 28 September 2011). Consistent with the strategy of selectively engaging with and championing evidence they found acceptable, the CPC used Statistics Canada and other survey research to advance their political agenda (on the spinning of research evidence, see Goldson, 2010;Minkes, 2007;Naughton, 2005). One example is their use of the Statistics Canada's 2009 victimisation survey, which the CPC insisted proved that there had been an alarming increase in unreported or not reported crime (63 references).…”

“…Apparently unfamiliar with this research, MP Comartin missed an opportunity to clarify that nearly two-thirds of participants had expressed moderate to high confidence in youth justice, as was also the case in 2007 (Latimer & Desjardins, 2007, p. 5, 2009. In fact, the DJC-commissioned surveys provide evidence of a significant increase in confidence in youth justice since the late 1990s, when 70 per cent or more of surveyed Canadians expressed little or no faith in the YCJA's predecessor, the Young Offenders Act (Roberts, 2005; see also Doob & Sprott, 2004;Minkes, 2007;Sprott et al, 2013). Subsequently, opposition parliamentarians and stakeholders would note that the DJC surveys demonstrated that the Canadian public supports youth rehabilitation far more than youth incarceration (2009, p. 12, 93 per cent versus 48 per cent).…”

“…This two-part presumption speaks of a commitment to evidence-based policy, and as importantly of a perceived need to rehabilitate public confidence. This perception was fuelled by polls that indicated as many as 70 per cent of Canadians had little or no confidence in the YCJA's predecessor, the Young Offenders Act (1985 -2003) (Roberts, 2005; see also Doob & Sprott, 2004;Minkes, 2007;Sprott et al, 2013). Recognizing that surveyed publics held divided and uncertain views on whether more punishment or more rehabilitation was needed, the LP instituted a bifurcated mix of symbolic and substantive measures designed to accommodate both populist concerns about public protection and offender accountability and stakeholder championed prevention and rehabilitation strategies.…”

Información, ¿antídoto frente al “populismo punitivo”?. Estudio sobre las actitudes hacia el castigo de los menores infractores y el sistema de Justicia Juvenil

“…Finalmente, en relación a la reincidencia, advertimos que tanto uno como otro grupo, valoraron, oportunamente, la proporción de jóvenes que, tras haber cometido una infracción, incurren en otra en el intervalo de un año, enclavándola entre un 26 y un 50% del total, que coincide con los datos ofrecidos por los estudios más recientes conducidos en nuestro contexto, que la cifran entre un 22,7% y un 30% (Capdevilla, Ferrer & Luque, 2005;Bravo, Sierra & Del Valle, 2009;San Juan & Ocáriz, 2009). Esta percepción acrecentada de la delincuencia juvenil es coincidente con los resultados hallados por la investigación comparada (Sprott, 1996;Hough & Roberts, 1998Nacro Youth Crime, 2001;Anderson et al, 2005;Haines, 2007;Halsey & White, 2008;Fernández & Tarancón, 2010), y ha sido justificada por los autores aludiendo al desconocimiento de la población de los datos de la delincuencia juvenil y del funcionamiento del sistema penal (Sprott, 1996;Haines, 2007;Minkes, 2007), así como designando a los medios de comunicación como principales protagonistas en la conformación de la opinión pública, que procuran datos distorsionados de la realidad criminal (Baron & Hartnagel, 1996;Guetti & Redlich, 2001;Hough & Roberts, 2004;Goidel et al, 2006;Halsey & White, 2008). Esta explicación resulta coherente con los Artículo 3, Número 9 (2011) www.criminología.net ISSN: 1696-9219 21 resultados mostrados en el presente estudio, puesto que la generalidad de los integrantes de ambos grupos precisaron que las fuentes que avalaban su percepción del incremento de la delincuencia juvenil eran la radio, la prensa y la televisión.…”

Content and Adequacy of Specialized Police Training to Handle Youth-Related Incidents

“…Despite this focus on diversion and alternatives to laying a formal charge, the YOA had the effect of substantially increasing police use of charges and decreasing diversion (Carrington & Schulenberg, 2008). However, the most pronounced trend in youth justice under the YOA was a result of the just desert philosophy 460 International Criminal Justice Review underlying the legislation that was practiced primarily as crime control that resulted in a significant overuse of custodial sentences (Minkes, 2007).…”