The rhetoric of youth justice in Canada

Abstract

This article reviews some of the recent political rhetoric and public opinion on the controversial subject of youth crime and how to deal with it, particularly the Young Offenders Act of 1984 and the new Youth Criminal Justice Act of 2002, from a social constructionist perspective. Recent controversy over youth crime and justice is nothing new, reflecting differing views about the causes of crime and the appropriate ways of responding to it as specific manifestations of more fundamental and conflicting ideological assumptions regarding views of human nature, the degree of individual responsibility for behavior, and the fundamental values of society. The debates surrounding the new Youth Criminal Justice Act continue to reflect these ideological conflicts. Generally, there is a substantial gap between much of the rhetoric and the reality of youth crime and justice. Youth crime and justice in Canada is certainly an important issue that requires serious attention, but it is hardly the crisis that some would have us believe. Much depends upon how the new Youth Criminal Justice Act is actually implemented. A failure to alter the usual political rhetoric surrounding youth crime and justice obscures the reality in this area and will contribute to an on-going cycle of controversy that does little to advance efforts of effective crime prevention.