Zach LarkinsYOUNG CRIMINALS
"The number of young people jailed or put on probation fell in two consecutive years after the Youth Criminal Justice Act was passed in 2003 and experts say this suggests the legislation is working as planned. The number of youths aged 12 to 17 sent to custody and community correctional services declined 33 per cent following the act's adoption, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday." So says an article reported by the Canadian Press the other day. I say the experts are wrong.
The ‘experts' are of a liberal mind who want their numbers to work, and as with the glo-bull warming crisis or the idea that rehab in prison actually works or the protests against the seal hunt or the war in Iraq, these people will leave no stone unturned to convince you and me that they have all the right answers.
What they fail to take into account is the mealy mouthed sentences for young criminals who have committed horrific acts. My article on Sprucedale gives you one example of just how far out of touch some of these people are. In earlier articles, I wrote about the ‘slap on the wrist' sentences some of these young offenders are getting for such trivial things as throwing cement blocks off a highway overpass, nearly killing someone and then going home to brag about it on the Net.
"Admissions to probation declined 54 per cent, sentenced custody admissions were down 50 per cent, and remand dropped 22 cent." The admissions to probation decline are a result of sentencing someone to community service. Sentenced custody reduction is the result of house arrest. The decline in remands happens because the judge couldn't find the right jail to put the offender in. Witness the case of the slaying of Terrence Ali. Tell me how the judge served justice in that case.
"The Youth Criminal Justice Act replaced the much-maligned Young Offenders Act, which many said placed too much stress on jail time." Sorry, but the punishment should fit the crime. If I throw a cement block off a highway overpass, hit a car, almost kill the driver, then go home and brag about my deeds on my website, I should get more than ‘time served' plus some probation.
Ruth Mann, a professor of sociology at the University of Windsor, says, "Under the YOA, we were sending a lot of kids to custody for administrative offences and minor property offences, a lot of things that many would argue were not only a waste of money but counterproductive in terms of getting youth to turn away from crime." Fair enough. But our judicial system has taken the concept to extremes and is loathe to pronounce any sentence that reflects the severity of the crime. Nicola Bala, a law professor at Queens University, agrees with Mann. "We've seen a very significant, very substantial decline in the use of courts and custody for young offenders," she said. "We are increasingly using community-based dispositions and sentences and also diverting some young people from the courts system altogether and dealing with them in a less formal way." And just what does that entail? Warnings, counselling, or community programs aimed at diverting young people from crime. Yup, that'll teach ‘em. NOT!
Bala says that in the past, non-violent young offenders would be more likely to go into custody, where they would mingle with more experienced and often violent offenders. That experience was more likely to tip them toward further crimes on their release. This doesn't address the liberal notion whether or not rehab in adult prisons actually works. If it did, why then would a young offender leave prison more poisoned against the world than he was when he went in? The rehab should be working so well that the youth would gain guidance and counselling from the hard core offenders and leave with the notion that they did not want to live their lives in the same manner as the ‘old timers'.
If rehab actually works the way the liberals would like us to believe it works, we wouldn't have anyone in prison. At least, we wouldn't have a prison overcrowding problem. If it truly doesn't work (keep the kids out, they'll only get more vicious), why are we wasting time and money trying to keep them in the community until they realize the error of their ways?
Sources: Canadian Press Fewer Youths Sent To Jail The National Post
The ‘experts' are of a liberal mind who want their numbers to work, and as with the glo-bull warming crisis or the idea that rehab in prison actually works or the protests against the seal hunt or the war in Iraq, these people will leave no stone unturned to convince you and me that they have all the right answers.
What they fail to take into account is the mealy mouthed sentences for young criminals who have committed horrific acts. My article on Sprucedale gives you one example of just how far out of touch some of these people are. In earlier articles, I wrote about the ‘slap on the wrist' sentences some of these young offenders are getting for such trivial things as throwing cement blocks off a highway overpass, nearly killing someone and then going home to brag about it on the Net.
"Admissions to probation declined 54 per cent, sentenced custody admissions were down 50 per cent, and remand dropped 22 cent." The admissions to probation decline are a result of sentencing someone to community service. Sentenced custody reduction is the result of house arrest. The decline in remands happens because the judge couldn't find the right jail to put the offender in. Witness the case of the slaying of Terrence Ali. Tell me how the judge served justice in that case.
"The Youth Criminal Justice Act replaced the much-maligned Young Offenders Act, which many said placed too much stress on jail time." Sorry, but the punishment should fit the crime. If I throw a cement block off a highway overpass, hit a car, almost kill the driver, then go home and brag about my deeds on my website, I should get more than ‘time served' plus some probation.
Ruth Mann, a professor of sociology at the University of Windsor, says, "Under the YOA, we were sending a lot of kids to custody for administrative offences and minor property offences, a lot of things that many would argue were not only a waste of money but counterproductive in terms of getting youth to turn away from crime." Fair enough. But our judicial system has taken the concept to extremes and is loathe to pronounce any sentence that reflects the severity of the crime. Nicola Bala, a law professor at Queens University, agrees with Mann. "We've seen a very significant, very substantial decline in the use of courts and custody for young offenders," she said. "We are increasingly using community-based dispositions and sentences and also diverting some young people from the courts system altogether and dealing with them in a less formal way." And just what does that entail? Warnings, counselling, or community programs aimed at diverting young people from crime. Yup, that'll teach ‘em. NOT!
Bala says that in the past, non-violent young offenders would be more likely to go into custody, where they would mingle with more experienced and often violent offenders. That experience was more likely to tip them toward further crimes on their release. This doesn't address the liberal notion whether or not rehab in adult prisons actually works. If it did, why then would a young offender leave prison more poisoned against the world than he was when he went in? The rehab should be working so well that the youth would gain guidance and counselling from the hard core offenders and leave with the notion that they did not want to live their lives in the same manner as the ‘old timers'.
If rehab actually works the way the liberals would like us to believe it works, we wouldn't have anyone in prison. At least, we wouldn't have a prison overcrowding problem. If it truly doesn't work (keep the kids out, they'll only get more vicious), why are we wasting time and money trying to keep them in the community until they realize the error of their ways?
Sources: Canadian Press Fewer Youths Sent To Jail The National Post
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