NCJ Number
219333
Journal
Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice Volume: 49 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2007 Pages: 205-230
Date Published
April 2007
Length
26 pages
Annotation
Through an analysis of the transformation of the rights of Canadian youth under the Young Offenders Act of 1982 (YOC), in combination with several focus groups with young offenders, this article discusses the emergence of youth as a subject rather than an object of rights.
Abstract
The ability of a young person to exercise the power that accompanies the rights provided in the YOC is apparently limited by the arbitrary bureaucracy of criminal justice procedures and by successive amendments to the law. Although a youth's right to be heard in legal forums is prominent in the law, the confusing and intimidating features of the court experience alienate young defendants and condition them to feel they are objects of the system rather than autonomous subjects with rights that can be affirmed within the system. In spite of neo-liberal affirmations about the changing nature of the role of youth under Canadian criminal law, in reality youth have not been liberated from the accustomed paternalistic features of the justice system. The constraints of the new law and the expansion of extra-judicial measures within justice procedures have served to maintain business as usual in how young offenders are treated in the Canadian justice system. 11 notes and 39 references