This Happened On The Liberal Watch

Youth crime law is a farce
By Lorrie Goldstein

The murder of a 15-year-old student inside a Toronto high school illustrates why the Youth Criminal Justice Act is worse than the Young Offenders Act it replaced.

Following this week's arrest of two 17-year-olds charged with the first-degree murder of Jordan Manners, police praised members of the public for providing information that led to the arrests.

Ironically, that could be the last time the public hears anything meaningful about this case.

Under the YCJA, which came into effect, appropriately, on April Fools' Day 2003, the identities of these youths will only be revealed if they are convicted AND sentenced to "adult" time.

Even under the highly secretive YOA, a case like this would almost certainly have been held in adult court, with the identities of all parties made public.

In fact, the YCJA is so untransparent, it can create cases where the identity of the accused, victim and witnesses are never made public, if they are under 18.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled last year that judges can't factor in deterrence when sentencing under the YCJA, because it contains no provisions for doing so. When it drafted the law, the previous Liberal government ignored warnings from victims' rights advocates that omitting deterrence in sentencing would prove to be a disaster.

Under the YCJA, adult sentences, even for murder, are to be applied "sparingly" according to the feds' own explanation of their legislation when it was passed.

Conceivably, then, a youth can be convicted of murder and remain anonymous because he doesn't receive an "adult" sentence.

The YCJA was sold to Canadians as being tougher on serious youth crime than the YOA.

This is nonsense. In many ways, it's worse.

Its major flaw is that, like its predecessor, the YCJA doesn't distinguish between major crimes such as murder, where the public has a right to know the names of those responsible, and minor ones, such as petty vandalism, where protecting the youth's identity, particularly for a first offence, might make sense.

Trust our politicians not to know the difference.