Youth Crime in Canada PDF

Ethnographic studies provide detailed information on the lives of youth and their families. Longitudinal studies of youth crime focus on age as an important factor in youth crime rates. The public discourse on youth crime is highly racialized. There is no evidence to suggest that children of visible...

Ethnographic studies provide detailed information on the lives of youth and their families. Longitudinal studies of youth crime focus on age as an important factor in youth crime rates. The public discourse on youth crime is highly racialized. There is no evidence to suggest that children of visible minorities are more likely than Canadian-born or white youth to be “gang” members. Aboriginal youth crime is part of a larger pattern of violence directly related to the aftermath of colonialism, residential schools, poverty, and their oppressed status in Canadian society. Young adults (primarily males 18 to 30 years of age) are responsible for far more violent crime than youth. Notwithstanding changes in policing practices, a not insignificant portion of the increase in violent crime with the YOA, as well as in all categories of youth crime, can be explained by the introduction of 16- and 17-year-old youth into the juvenile justice system. Crime rates for both adults and youth fluctuate with changes in the age composition of the overall population. Youth under 12 do not appear to be any more “criminal” than they were 25 years ago (less than 2 percent of all offences known to police). Nor are they being coerced into criminal activities by older youth or adults; only a small proportion of the under-12 cases in police files involved an accomplice over the age of 16. Girls are far less involved in “official” crime than boys, but the gap has been closing with changes in chagign practices- self reporting surveys suggest that engage in the same behaviours as boys, but less frequently. Boys’ criminal behaviour begins earlier than girls’ and is more likely to extend into adulthood. There appears to be a gender gap with respect to charging practices. Proportionately more girls than boys are charged for minor crimes of violence (and at younger ages), and more girls are charged with administrative offences, particularly fail to comply and bail violations. As boys and girls age, violence charges increase for boys ad decrease for girls. The risk of violent victimization is greater for 12-year-olds than for anyone over 24, and 12- to 17-year-old youth are more likely to be victimized than anyone over 25. Twenty-two percent of all violent crime victims in Canada are youth aged 12 to 19, which is double this group’s proportion of the Canadian population. Boys are more likely than girls to be the perpetrators as well as the victims of violence. Girls experience higher rates of violent victimization than boys, boys experience higher rates of assault than girls. Girls are more likely than boys to have been assaulted, sexually or otherwise, by family members. Almost half of those accused of crimes against teens are also teenagers. Adults are more violent with their children than with their adult partners. A majority of offences against children occur outside the home, but offences are as likely to occur at home as at school. In the home, adult males and older brothers are the most frequent perpetrators of violence against children and youth. Recent investigations into violence and physical and sexual abuse in foster homes, correctional facilities, and other state institutions indicate that Canadian politi- cians and assorted institut