“I think it’s contradictory with the existing legislation. It’s a totally different approach. I think we’re going backwards, back to the Young Offenders [Act] approach, which allowed us to have an extremely high incarceration rate of youth as compared to other advanced, civilized nations and developed nations,” Richard said.

“He also told the federal politicians he’s concerned that if the reforms are implemented there may be less money spent on innovative approaches to treating young people with mental health or severe behavior disorders.”

If you’re familiar with the Ashley Smith case (also mentioned in the article), then I’m sure you’ll realize how disastrous these changes will be. It’s taken 3 tries to attempt to control youth deviance (JDA, YOA, YCJA) and yet policymakers have yet to tackle the root causes of delinquency and recidivism. Ashley Smith (may she rest in peace) is the most obvious and tragic example of how Canada’s youth justice system is failing miserably, and these proposed changes are just going to set us even further back from properly treating mentally ill youth.

If you’re unfamiliar with Ashley Smith, see this link: http://www.gnb.ca/0073/PDF/AshleySmith-e.pdf. She was also featured on CBC’s The Fifth Estate, you can download the torrent here: http://www.kickasstorrents.com/cbc-the-fifth-estate-s19e09-ws-pdtv-xvid-ekolb-t3361591.html.