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APPENDIX B

June 1995
Mandate of the Standing Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs
for the Comprehensive Review of the Youth Justice System

It is proposed that the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs undertake a broad, in-depth inquiry (Phase II Review) into the youth justice system in Canada, further to the request made by the Minister of Justice when he introduced Bill C-37 on June 2, 1994. In 1984, the Young Offenders Act (YOA), which governs all criminal justice matters related to youth, came into force. Over the past decade, the Act has been amended three times -- in 1986, 1992 and, most recently (Bill C-37, Phase I Review), in 1995. To date, the impact of the Act and the various amendments have not been comprehensively assessed. The study will entail a comprehensive review of the youth justice system, youth offending and the operation and implementation of the Y0A, as well as problems arising from the Act itself and would begin in the Fall of 1995.

To that end, it is proposed that the Committee invite the expression of views from a broad cross-section of Canadian society including, but not restricted to, youth court judges, crown prosecutors, defense lawyers, police forces, children's aid/child welfare agencies, victims, parents, young offenders, educators, treatment facilities, custodial institutions, community-based agencies, advocacy groups and social policy analysts.

The Committee would hold public meetings in Ottawa, and some in the provinces and territories, and visit some young offender facilities and programmes to observe how the youth justice system operates in practice.

The Committee would examine the following issues, among others, in relation to youth crime:

• nature and determinants of youth property and personal injury crime, school violence and youth gangs;
• direct and indirect community impacts and social costs of youth crime;
• youth crime prevention measures;
• deterrents to youth crime;
• family responsibility for youth crime;
• adult and youth knowledge and opinion about young offending, the youth justice system and the Young Offenders Act; and
• risks and needs of young people under 12 years of age engaged in offending behaviour.

The Committee would examine the following issues, among others, in relation to the youth justice system:

• rationale for a youth justice system;
• police discretion and court diversion schemes;
• timeliness in bringing cases to trial in youth court;
• use of court diversion or alternative measures schemes, intermediate sanctions and mental health treatment programmes;
• pre-trial detention and custodial committals;
• the involvement of female, aboriginal and visible minority young people in crime and their representation in the youth justice system;
• relationship between responsibilities of the youth justice system and child welfare system; and
• resources and training in the youth justice system.

The Committee would examine the following issues, among others, in relation to the operation and implementation of the YOA:

• link between youthful criminality and the YOA;
• appropriateness of adversarial approach to youth justice proceedings;
• impact of affording youth formal legal and procedural safeguards;
• inter-provincial variations in application of the Act;
• effectiveness of the Act's Declaration of Principle:

a) in making clear the objectives of the youth justice system; and

b) as a guide in interpreting the YOA and applying the range of dispositions available under it;

• appropriateness of the minimum and maximum ages of criminal responsibility;
• jury trials in youth court;
• disparities in sentencing practices;
• sentencing circles (aboriginal); and
• presumptive transfers to adult court.

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