Events
Evaluating the Youth Criminal Justice Act with Perpetrator Self-Report Data
Presented by Lihui Zhang, Assistant Professor
Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
Thursday March 11, 2010
Start Time: 1:30 PM - End Time: 3:00 PM
| Category: | Public Lecture | |
| Campus: | University of Saskatchewan campus | |
| Saskatoon Location: | Theatre (101 Diefenbaker Place), Diefenbaker Building University of Saskatchewan Campus | |
| Description: | This research looks at a major policy change in the Canadian youth criminal justice
system, i.e. the coming into eff ect of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) on April 1, 2003, replacing the Young Off enders Act (YOA) as the Federal law that governs the administration of Canadian 12-17 year old off enders. The YCJA diff ers from the YOA in that it greatly reduces the use of youth courts and custodial sentences for relatively minor crime and is intended to be tougher on most serious, violent young off enders. Both the “deterrence” and the “incapacitation” hypotheses predict that minor crime rates will increase due to the less punitive disposition of the YCJA towards minor crime. However, the “deterrence” and the “incapacitation” hypotheses predict opposite changes for most serious violent crime. Thus, the effect of the YCJA on serious violent crime is not clear. Using youth self-reported criminal activities data, this research finds that, consistent with the predictions of economic theory, mischief (damaging or destroying something that does not belong to the youth, i.e. damaging school furniture or writing graffiti) as the most minor form of crime increased significantly among boys after the YCJA, whereas the effect of the YCJA on other types of youth crime, such as violent crime, drug offenses or impaired driving, is less conclusive. | |
| Please Note: | There is no cost for this event but seating is limited. | |
| Contact: | For more information contact us at 306.585.5869 or . | |
Event Details (Click here to download a print ready file)
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