 |
|
| In support of prisoners and prison justice activism in Canada | |
The Politics
of Prison
Current
Events & News. . . . .
home > current
events & news >article |
Automatic adult jail terms eyed for youth
February 05, 2007
Janice Tibbetts, CanWest News Service
The Conservative government plans to introduce a bill as early as next month to treat young offenders more harshly, including an expected provision to make it automatic that violent and repeat offenders over the age of 13 receive adult sentences.
Another anticipated change would instruct judges to tack on additional jail time for youths for the purpose of sending a message to the public.The planned changes to the Youth Criminal Justice Act, dealing with 12- to 17-year-olds in trouble with the law, are contained in the Conservative election platform, which promises "to hold young lawbreakers accountable to their victims and the community."
Genevieve Breton, a spokeswoman for Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, said the government intends to proceed with its election campaign commitments dealing with young offenders."We were elected on a platform that included commitments to strengthen our criminal justice system, including the Youth Criminal Justice Act," she said.
The crackdown on young offenders is a key element of the Conservative law-and-order agenda in the second year of the government's mandate.The bill is expected to be introduced -- possibly next month --even though the Commons justice committee is already bogged down with several other crime bills that were tabled last year.
One change would be to make it automatic for youths aged 14 and over who are repeat or violent offenders to receive heavier adult sentences, a provision that would remove the discretionary powers of a judge to decide on a case-by-case basis.As it stands, it is presumed that serious crimes will merit adult punishment, but it is not mandatory.
The government's plan, however, could run into legal trouble, as there is already a challenge, slated to be heard in the Supreme Court of Canada next fall, to the current, less punitive law.The case involves a 17-year-old youth who beat another teenager at a Hamilton shopping mall. The victim eventually died from his injuries.
The Supreme Court will review an Ontario Court of Appeal decision last year that youths in trouble with the law should be treated as children not adults.A three-judge panel in Ontario declared that presuming youths will be punished as adults violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and that it should be up to prosecutors to present a convincing case on why youths should be punished as adults, rather than the other way around.
The government also plans to add a provision to the act instructing judges to take "deterrence and denunciation" into account when sentencing youths. The principle, which already exists in the Criminal Code for adults, means imposing longer sentences to send a message to the public.
The Youth Criminal Justice Act came into force almost four years ago, replacing the Young Offenders Act, which the former Liberal government said it scrapped because Canadian youths were being jailed at one of the highest rates in the Western world.
As a result of the new focus on rehabilitation rather than punishment, there has been a dramatic plunge in the number of youths serving time in detention centres. In the first year of the new act, there was a 44% decrease. Police are also laying fewer charges under the new law.
Marlene Jennings, the Liberal justice critic, predicted the Conservative plans will not garner enough support to pass in the minority Parliament."Harsh treatment doesn't work," said Ms. Jennings, who added that she expected that the Conservative proposals would violate the Charter of Rights guarantee that punishment must be proportionate to the crime.
She said she is particularly "horrified" at the prospect of eliminating the discretion of judges to pass sentences as they see fit, on a case-by-case basis.CTV News reported last week that the government is considering going even further for 16- and 17-year-olds.The network cited a leaked memo that proposes to give the Crown discretion to use the adult justice system, not just sentencing, for youths aged 16 and 17 who are charged with murder, attempted murder, manslaughter or aggravated sexual assault.
The difference is that in the youth justice system, their names are protected from publication and they do not carry a criminal record into adulthood.
Ms. Breton noted there are already many justice bills that have not yet passed in the House of Commons, so Mr. Nicholson's priority is to focus on those legislative measures.
For instance, two of the minority government's priority justice bills -- to impose more mandatory jail terms for gun-related crimes and to raise the age of sexual consent to 16 from 14 -- were introduced last spring but still have not been passed.
Former justice minister Vic Toews, now president of the Treasury Board, said in an interview last fall that several federal and provincial justice ministers had lobbied him for stiffer treatment of young offenders.
Mr. Nicholson was not available for comment.
Source: canada.comMore on Tory Law and Order Agenda on prisonjustice.ca:
Tory Bill Increasing Mandatory Minimums for Gun Laws Facing Critics In Justice Committee
Three Strikes Bill
Mandatory Minimums and Gun Crimes, Banning Conditional Sentencing