Pubdate: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB) Copyright: 2006, Canoe Limited Partnership. Contact: http://www.canoe.com/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/135 Author: Mindelle Jacobs Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) VIC'S VERY BAD IDEA Judges across the country must be shaking their heads in dismay over Justice Minister Vic Toews's proposal that courts deal with troubled kids under age 12. Yes, that's just what our courts need - responsibility for a pile of hell-raising kidlets on top of the bottleneck of cases already choking the justice system. Children under 12 can't be charged under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Since 1984, it has been accepted that young kids should not be deemed criminally responsible for their actions. But Toews opened up a can of worms Monday when he suggested that children under 12 who have broken the law should fall under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. "There doesn't necessarily have to be a charge, but there has to be some kind of mechanism that you can bring the child into the context of the court," he said. "We need to give courts jurisdiction to intervene in the lives of these young people." It's all very confusing. The police wouldn't necessarily have to charge children under 12 but judges would be expected to deal with these young ruffians anyway? I can hardly wait to see the convoluted piece of legislation Toews dreams up to give judges power over kids who haven't actually been charged with an offence. And even if judges did have the jurisdiction, time or inclination to wag their fingers at 10- or 11-year-old troublemakers, what are they going to do? Get the children into counselling or other treatment, of course, which is precisely what police and child-welfare officials already try to do. Toews complained that the child-welfare system isn't doing a good enough job of reforming young delinquents. That may be true, but the solution is for the federal and provincial governments to increase funding for social services - not to haul a gaggle of guttersnipes into court. Judges routinely send untold numbers of accused and convicted criminals for psychiatric assessments and counselling and the backlog is enormous. Alberta doesn't just need tradespeople. It needs social workers and psychiatrists, too. The Capital Health Authority is short 10 child psychiatrists, for instance. And poor families can't always afford therapy for their kids, since psychological services aren't covered by medicare unless the children are in state care. The Psychologists' Association of Alberta has lobbied the province for a psychological aid program akin to legal aid, so far to no avail, says association executive director Pierre Berube. "We're working on it but it's certainly not going to be a quick thing," he says. "I think government definitely should be involved to fund psychological services for people who can't afford it." There are agencies that provide counselling to poor families on a sliding fee scale and many psychologists are doing pro bono work, says Berube. "But they can only do so much of that," he says. "There is no established system that if you're not a child-welfare case ... our services are available at reasonable cost." Toews softened his remarks somewhat in a letter to the editor in the National Post yesterday, saying that kids under 12 who break the law need effective intervention and treatment. Of course they do. But he reiterated his suggestion that the courts get involved with these children. Bad idea. We don't whip bad kids anymore. Nor should we lower the age at which children fall under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. As Ottawa lawyer Lawrence Greenspon pointed out the other day, we need more money for social services instead. It's also worth keeping in mind that youth crime has been dropping. So Toews should stop pretending the sky is falling. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman