Prior to the coming into force of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) in 2003, Canada had one of the highest rates in the world for use of courts and custody for adolescent offenders. The YCJA significantly structured the discretion of police, prosecutors and judges, restricting use of courts and custody. With the enactment of this law, there have been changes in approaches of professionals and youth corrections policies. There have been substantial reductions in the use of courts and custody for youth in Canada, though there is significant variation across the country. Despite the success of the YCJA in reducing youth incarceration rates and spending on custody facilities without increasing youth crime, conservative politicians have continued to criticize the law, and enacted amendments to the YCJA in 2012.

This presentation reviews the history of juvenile justice in Canada, and describes the major provisions of the present legal regime, including analysis of the leading Canadian precedents on youth justice and the 2012 amendments.Despite the law-and-order rhetoric of conservative politicians and changes to the criminal law that are resulting in increases in adult incarceration in Canada, the 2012 YCJA amendments do not change the fundamental approaches to youth justice, and actually narrow the scope of pre-trial detention. The presentation considers some of the major concerns with youth justice in Canada, including high rates of involvement of minority youth, especially aboriginal youth, in the justice system, and concludes with suggestions for addressing challenges that need to be faced to reduce rates of youth crime in Canada, notably by improving access to mental health services and reducing child maltreatment and poverty.