Answer

Youth Federal Justice Policy Analysis: ‘Failing to Comply with a Disposition

• Introduction
• Canadian federal youth justice policy has been fundamentally founded on the belief that children in conflict with the law are deserving of protection and welfare.
• As such, they should not be treated as the adult criminals would be treated, but they should be seen as misdirected and misguided children who need encouragement, help, and assistance.
• The policy of incarcerating young offenders for violating their dispositions and probationary conditions serves to increase the chances of incarceration and recidivism during the latter years of the individual.

Youth Federal Justice Policy Analysis: ‘Failing to Comply with a Disposition’

Questions asked in the Policy

• Why was Young Offenders Act (YOA) replaced with Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) in 2002
• Did the Failing to comply with a disposition (FTC) policy die after the introduction of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) in 2002
• Is there significance variance between how the FTC  was used in the older and newer youth justice regimes
• How does the policy operates
• What are the recommendations on the policy

Youth Federal Justice Policy Analysis: ‘Failing to Comply with a Disposition’

Central Argument

• A youth is charged with an FTC offense when they commit a breach of a probationary condition
• Typical probationary conditions that are given to youth include; adherence to curfew, reporting to a youth worker with certain time-frames, not associating with certain groups of people, attending school as and when required.
• If a youth is supposed to obey any of the above probationary conditions and they fail to obey; they are likely to be charged with an FTC offence and this may result in a custodial sentence

Data Collected

• The subjects of the tests were 197 incarcerated males that were aged between 16-18 years on whether incarceration negatively affected the cognitive functioning (namely, cognitive control, emotion control, and emotion recognition) of young people.
• Study were 269 males aged between 18-25 years on finding out a correlation between cognitive functioning and various forms of aggressive antisocial behaviours among young offenders.

Theoretical Framework Guiding the Research

• Cognitive control, emotional control and emotional recognition of young people. Drawn from an empirical study was conducted by Umbach, Raine, and Leonard (2018) as outlined in the paper, Cognitive Decline as a Result of Incarceration and the Effects of a CBT/MT Intervention: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial.
• cognitive functioning and various forms of aggressive antisocial behaviours among young offenders drawn from a study conducted by Wallinius, Nordholm, Wagnström, and Billstedt (2019) in their article, Cognitive functioning and aggressive antisocial behaviours in young violent offenders.

Central Findings of the Research

• Within the Canadian context, as of 2012, 37% of youth reported that they had engaged in one or more delinquent behaviour in the course of their lifetime (National Crime Prevention Centre, 2012).
• Such delinquent behaviours include acts of violence, acts against property, and the sale of drugs (National Crime Prevention Centre, 2012).

Main Conclusions

• The Act makes provision for the incarceration of young offenders who do not comply with their dispositions.
• In the latter country, if a young offender has been given a probationary sentence and they act in breach of a condition of the probation, the Prison and Probation Service will re-establish stricter supervision and ensure the observance of special conditions.
• Research has shown that the extension of the probationary period is not a new concept. It is one that has successfully been implemented in various jurisdictions.

Limitations of the Research

• All youths did not end up in the juvenile justice system to face incarceration for their conduct of violating terms of probation.

Future Lines of Research that should be Pursued

• A research on measures to be put in place or added while revising of the policy to be explored by making amendments to the Youth Criminal Justice Act, with probationary periods being extended for violation of conditions.
• This practice will not only be effective in rehabilitating the young offenders, but it will also be less costly for taxpayers.

Tentative Policy Recommendations

• Making amendments to the Youth Criminal Justice Act of 2002.
• 137 of the YCJA be struck out and replaced with a provision to the effect that if a young offender violates the conditions of their probation, the probationary period is extended.
• Section 39(1) (b) of the Act, along with Section 39(3) (b), should also be struck out accordingly to completely rid the justice system of the concept of the FTC offence as was postulated in the Young Offenders Act.
• Increase of probationary conditions and the implementation of special measures to ensure compliance with the probationary orders.

Tentative Policy Recommendations Cont’

• It is financially inadvisable to adopt a policy that serves to increase the possibility of incarceration of individuals who would otherwise not be incarcerated.
• When the cost of incarceration is contradistinguished with the cost of increased probation conditions, the difference is substantial.

Policies from other Countries useful for Developing my Policy

• The measure of extending the probationary period is one that has been used for several decades in US particularly Georgia.
• If an accused person pleads guilty to a probation violation or is found guilty of the same, the prosecutor involved in the case has the option of requesting that the duration of the probation be extended or additional probationary conditions are imposed.
• The officer or prosecutor is essentially not statutorily limited to requesting a period of incarceration.

Policies from other Countries Useful for Developing my Policy Cont’

• The same practice can be imported to Canada since it offers non-incarceration, thus reducing recidivism rates in the latter years of young offenders.
• Based on data provided by Statistics Canada, it was noted that the cost of keeping an individual in detention is significantly high within the federal system.
• According to federal data, every detainee’s average cost is $155,000 per year.

Policies from other Countries Useful for Developing my Policy Cont’

• This is significantly more than the average income per household within the country. This is also significantly more than the average wage per person, which stood at approximately $50,000 annually.
• Therefore, the cost of incarceration is unreasonably high, and this cost is squarely borne by the taxpayer. Thus it is financially inadvisable to adopt a policy that serves to increase the possibility of incarceration of individuals who would otherwise not be incarcerated.