Sociology 2267A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Youth Criminal Justice Act, Juvenile Delinquency, The Young Offenders
31 Aug 2020
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SOC 2267 650
Week 1: Lesson 1 - From "Misguided Children" to "Criminal Youth": Exploring Historical and
Contemporary Trends in Canadian Youth Justice
Learning Objectives
• Explain how "deviant" and "dependent" children were typically dealt with in Western
countries prior to the invention of juvenile courts.
• Understand the factors that led to the creation of early delinquency legislation and
juvenile courts in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
• Identify factors linked to changes in early juvenile delinquency and to more recent youth
criminal justice legislation in Canada.
• Understand the role of historical and comparative research in helping to explain
contemporary trends in youth justice in Canada.
Introduction
• The three different legislative regimes that have evolved for administering juvenile
justice in Canada:
1. Juvenile Delinquents Act (JDA) of 1908
2. The Young Offenders Act (YOA) of 1984
3. The Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) of 2002
• Juvenile delinquency:
◦ The legal term, which came into popular use in the nineteenth century to
describe violations of the law by persons who had not reached the legal age of
adulthood.
• Juvenile courts:
◦ Specialized courts first created in the late nineteenth century to apply juvenile
justice laws in the care of dependent and delinquent children.
• Youth criminal justice system:
◦ A term often used today as a substitute for juvenile courts.
◦ Critical criminologists argue that it signifies a shift toward treating young
offenders more like adults offenders.
• Reformable young offender:
◦ A term coined by Bryan Hogeveen (2005) to describe the discursive construction
of some young offenders as "troubled" and therefore needing intervention in the
hope they can be rehabilitated.
• Punishable young offender:
◦ A term coined by Bryan Hogeveen (2005) to describe the discursive construction
of some young offenders as "troublesome" and therefore requiring punishment
in order to make them accountable for their criminal acts.
• Punitive turn thesis:
◦ The argument that in recent decades the criminal justice systems of many
Western countries have become more punishment oriented, with longer prison
sentences and higher rates of incarceration.
The Development of Modern Juvenile Justice Systems
SOC 2267 650
• Criminal justice system's treatment of young people is determined by the understanding
of childhood and how the understanding has changed over time
• This is understood through the work of historians
• Most influenced historian: Philippe Ariès
◦ First historian to propose an argument explaining how children were viewed and
treated by adults in earlier times and how this has changed over time
◦ Claimed the modern concept of childhood was "discovered" in Western Europe
in the seventeenth century
◦ Said there was less status ambiguity and intergenerational conflict prior to
concept of childhood
◦ Claimed children were happier prior to seventeenth century
• Criminologists use Ariè's research to explain the "invention" of juvenile delinquency and
juvenile courts
◦ Lamar Empey was one of these scholars and used Ariè's idea to support his
arguments surrounding the changing treatment of children ignoring/exploiting
them to concern for their moral welfare (1982).
◦ This shift in our understanding of childhood led to the concept of courts for
juveniles
• Ariès should not be accepted without criticism
◦ Spagnoli points out Ariès has personal and religious bias that influenced research
◦ Gottlieb discusses misleading aspect of "discovery of childhood"
Precursors to the Creation of Delinquency Legislation and Juvenile Courts
• Juvenile delinquency first used in the 18th century primarily as a legal term to describe
"violations of the law by persons below the community's age of adulthood" (Graebner
1994: 379)
• By the 19th century, the term was in widespread use and new juvenile justice systems
were put into place to deal with special needs of delinquency and dependent children.
• Must be cautious not to exaggerate the extent of this transformation in the legal
treatment of children
◦ Prior to mid-19th century, children were still treated differently in justice system
◦ Children under 7 were not able to be convicted of offence
◦ Youths between the ages of 7 and 14 were subject to doli incapax - presumption
of inability to do harm unless contested by the Crown
Common Features of Early Child Welfare - Model Delinquency Legislation
1. Three distinct age-graded levels of criminal accountability:
◦ No criminal accountability
◦ Limited criminal accountability
◦ Full criminal accountability
◦ Diminished criminal responsibility
• General view that individuals who are not adults should not be fully
responsible for their criminal behaviour
2. Parens Patriae
Document Summary
Week 1: lesson 1 - from "misguided children" to "criminal youth": exploring historical and. Identify factors linked to changes in early juvenile delinquency and to more recent youth criminal justice legislation in canada: understand the role of historical and comparative research in helping to explain contemporary trends in youth justice in canada. Introduction: the three different legislative regimes that have evolved for administering juvenile justice in canada, juvenile delinquents act (jda) of 1908, the young offenders act (yoa) of 1984, the youth criminal justice act (ycja) of 2002. Juvenile delinquency: the legal term, which came into popular use in the nineteenth century to describe violations of the law by persons who had not reached the legal age of adulthood. Western countries have become more punishment oriented, with longer prison sentences and higher rates of incarceration. Precursors to the creation of delinquency legislation and juvenile courts. Juvenile delinquency first used in the 18th century primarily as a legal term to describe.
