Pubdate: Tue, 14 Aug 2012
Source: Kamloops Daily News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Kamloops Daily News
Contact:  http://www.kamloopsnews.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/679

YOUTH JUSTICE CUT ILL-ADVISED

Fiscal restraint may be the order of the day, but a decision to cut 
20 per cent from federal funding for youth criminal justice programs 
seems tragically shortsighted. Moreover, the lost funding presents a 
textbook example of how slashing programs can, in effect, increase 
the cost burden.

In July, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson quietly eliminated more than 
$35 million from the Youth Justice Services program starting next 
year. As with other belt-tightening measures across the board, the 20 
per cent budget cut was made to help rein in Ottawa's substantial 
deficit. The Justice Department, Nicholson explained to his 
provincial counterparts, has to cut $67 million from its budget.

When the Young Offenders Act was enacted in 1985, the Youth Justice 
Services Fund was created to enable the provinces to deliver related 
services and programs. These programs include prevention and 
education aimed at steering kids clear of crime in the first place. 
They also include the first level of contact young offenders have 
with rehabilitation, programs that provide as much support as 
possible and which are specifically focused on keeping youths away 
from the adult corrections system where, ironically, they can be 
drawn further into criminal lifestyles.

Only last month, Statistics Canada provided another startling - and 
heartening - update in the long-term decline in crime in this 
country. Notably, the crime rate is at its lowest level in 40 years. 
In B.C., the rate is dropping faster than in any other province.

This undeniable fact somehow gets lost in the context of the Tories' 
omnibus crime bill, notorious murders and mass shootings south of the 
border. Criminologists and sociologists can't specifically explain 
the trend, but they have a pretty good idea of some key factors, one 
being the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

"Whatever you can do to decrease youth involvement in the criminal 
justice system will create a longer decreasing trend," said Margaret 
Wright, a UBC social work professor.

The overwhelming number of young people who come into conflict with 
the law can be effectively rehabilitated before they reach adulthood.

The government maintains that, despite the cut, it is channeling 
funds into programs that are applicable to youth, such as a "guns, 
gangs and drugs" component and a drug-treatment component, yet the 
provinces are still on the hook to come up with the $35 million in short order.

For the Harper government, given its much-touted anti-crime mandate, 
this is the height of hypocrisy and a clearcut case of downloading 
costs that doesn't serve the public interest. They should heed the 
provinces and look elsewhere for cuts.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom