The Administration of Youth Justice Through the Lens of Community-Based Service Providers: Risk Factors and Programming Challenges

Abstract

Since the Youth Criminal Justice Act of 2003 in Canada, the juvenile justice system has prioritized diverting youth away from in-custody sentences (incarceration in jail, prison, or other facilities) and towards a community-based system of justice. Despite this shift, there is limited research directly examining the experience of community-based service providers that were responsible for this shift in adjudicating youth. To understand the experience of working with youth involved in the system, we conducted semi-structured interviews with youth justice workers from one of the largest community-based organizations in a western Canadian province that offer alternatives to custody for at-risk youth. Findings provide a complex depiction of youth risk factors and illustrate the successes and challenges of administering youth justice in a community context.