<p>"<i>Implementing and Working with the </i>Youth Criminal Justice Act<i> across Canada</i> achieves its purpose of elucidating the complex nature of the <i>YCJA</i> through its inter-provincial/territorial approach…This book is a valuable read for anyone seeking to understand the youth criminal justice system because, as this collection demonstrates, the national perspective cannot tell the whole story due to the widely centralized and decentralized implementation strategies."</p>
- Zoe Johansen-Hill, Saskatchewan Law Review
Since its implementation in 2003, the Youth Criminal Justice Act has been the subject of intense political and scholarly debate. A complicated mixture of provisions intended to provide harsher punishments for serious violent crimes while encouraging positive, non-punitive interventions in less serious cases, its impact on the youth justice system remains controversial.
Implementing and Working with the Youth Criminal Justice Act across Canada provides the first comprehensive, province-by-province analysis of how each Canadian jurisdiction has implemented the Act in accordance with its own history, traditions, and institutional arrangements. Drawing on in-depth interviews with probation officers, counselors, educators, and social workers, the contributors use the experiences of practitioners to offer a new analytical perspective on a complicated and contentious aspect of the Canadian justice system. Their conclusions provide vital policy and program information for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers concerned with Canada’s youth justice systems.
Implementing and Working with the Youth Criminal Justice Act across Canada provides the first comprehensive, province-by-province analysis of how each Canadian jurisdiction has implemented the Act in accordance with its own history, traditions, and institutional arrangements.
Preface (Marc Alain)
Introduction (Raymond R. Corrado and Alan Markwart)
Chapter 1: A Fairly Short History of Youth Criminal Justice in Canada (Marc Alain and Julie Desrosiers)
Chapter 2: The Youth Justice System: An Alberta Overview (Crystal Hincks and John Winterdyk)
Chapter 3: The YCJA in British Columbia (Raymond R. Corrado, Alan Markwart, Karla Gronsdahl and Anne Kimmitt)
Chapter 4: Youth Justice in Manitoba: Developments and Issues under the YCJA (Russell Smandych, Murray Dyck, Corey La Berge and Jodi Koffman)
Chapter 5: Youth Justice in New Brunswick (Susan Reid)
Chapter 6: The Implementation of the Youth Criminal Justice Act in Newfoundland and Labrador: No Problem? (Anne Morris and Malin Enström)
Chapter 7: Commission of Inquiry and Judicial Reform in Nova Scotia (Sandra Bell)
Chapter 8: Youth Justice in Nunavut (Kathryn M. Campbell and Tim Stuempel)
Chapter 9: The Youth Criminal Justice System in Ontario (Kathryn M. Campbell)
Chapter 10: Youth Justice in Prince Edward Island (Frank T. Lavandier)
Chapter 11: The situation in Quebec, “Vive la différence”? (Marc Alain and Sylvie Hamel)
Chapter 12: Moving Forward & Standing Still: Assessing Restorative Based Justice in Saskatchewan after the Youth Criminal Justice Act (Josephine L. Savarese)
Conclusion
“Implementing and Working with the Youth Criminal Justice Act across Canada is the first detailed documentation of the variability in the implementation of the youth justice legislation across Canada. This is important, original work, valuable for scholars, graduate students, professionals, and policymakers.”