NCJ Number
216436
Journal
Punishment & Society Volume: 8 Issue: 4 Dated: October 2006 Pages: 477-480
Date Published
October 2006
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article briefly assesses the level of punitiveness among youth in Canada in response to assertions made on an increase in punishment and harsher penalties.
Abstract
It is strongly suggested that if one is interested in making quantitative assertions on whether Canada has moved or will move toward harsher sentences, higher rates of incarceration or harsher penalties, one should probably choose data that relate to these constructs. The empirical assertions made by Hogeveen in 2005 about changes in the level of punitiveness of young offenders in Canada were known to be without empirical support at the time that he made them. For much of the past 40 years, Canadian youth justice policy has been controversial. Amendments to the 1984 Young Offenders Act became controversial within the political process, as well as among academics. In 2005, academician Hogeveen suggested that in the 1990s punishable young offenders had been manifest in, and governed through increasingly harsh penalties, severe punishments, and high rates of incarceration. This article argues that Hogeveen’s assertions are inconsistent with the best evidence that was publicly available for the period he purports to be describing. References