The Guardian (Charlottetown)

Community approach needed on youth crime: report

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New Brunswick's Child and Youth Advocate says greater investment in community-based approaches to youth crime reduction will reduce the number of young people behind bars and save money in the long run.

Norm Bosse makes 10 recommenda­tions in a report released Wednesday entitled More Care Less Court.

“The preamble to the Criminal Youth Justice Act says that members of society share a responsibi­lity to address the developmen­tal challenges and the needs of young persons and to guide them into adulthood. That doesn't seem to be happening here in New Brunswick,” Bosse said in an interview.

Bosse stated in his report that in 2013-14, children as young as 12 were sent to the detention and secure custody facility in Miramichi, N.B., for pre-trial detention.

“Prison is no place for the positive developmen­t of a 12-yearold,” Bosse wrote.

Bosse said there needs to be more training for people who deal with troubled youth, including police officers, lawyers, probation officers and judges. He said they could be holding case conference­s to find ways of dealing with young offenders that doesn't result in putting them behind bars.

He said government should not be using criminal prosecutio­ns to access mental health services for young people. Instead, he said lawyers should ask judges to order referrals for assessment­s related to learning disabiliti­es and mental health issues.

Bosse said there are currently 25 to 30 New Brunswick youths in custody at any given time.

“If we use the act correctly the number of incarcerat­ed youth will diminish. There should be five to 10 youth incarcerat­ed at any one time,” he said.

He said youths who are awaiting sentencing or to be dealt with in youth court for minor offences should be kept in the community, and not held in detention. He said the exception would be cases where there are allegation­s of serious offences.

Incarcerat­ed youths are currently held in a facility in Miramichi that is shared with adult female inmates, but Bosse says that needs to change because youths are not supposed to be held in the same facility as adults.

Other recommenda­tions include the developmen­t of specialize­d youth court services such as the appointmen­t of an itinerant youth court judge, specially trained youth-specific duty counsel, Legal Aid counsel and Crown prosecutor­s.

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