Quote:
Originally Posted by fredr123
From James Stribopoulos writing for thecourt.ca:
Moving from the legal to the political implications of the judgment, the decision will thankfully serve to at least somewhat restrict the ability of politicians to exploit youth crime for political ends. Over the last twenty-five years, politicians of all political stripes have rather effectively used promises of “getting tough” on youth crime (which invariably means favouring the imposition of harsher and more adult-like sentences) to gain support from a misinformed electorate that has bought into empirically false claims that violent crime amongst youth is at epidemic levels and that the cause is a criminal justice system that treats youthful offenders with “kid gloves”. In reality, there has been a fair amount of fluctuation in youth crime levels, both up and down, and as western democracies go Canada’s approach to youth crime, measured by the rate at which we incarcerate youthful offenders, is one of the most punitive in the developed world.
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Great post--and I'm glad there are people out there questioning the empirical truth behind "youth crime" as a social issue. For those that know a little American cultural history, so-called "juvenile delinquency" was pretty much the front-burner issue as far back as the 40s and 50s, and has never really had a basis in reality in terms of a real statistical increase in youth crime.