Youth custody and community services

Admissions of young people aged 12 to 17 to remand, as well as sentenced custody and probation, fell for the second consecutive year following the enactment of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) on April 1, 2003.

This decline in admissions coincides with decreases in both the youth crime rate and the youth incarceration rate.

During the fiscal year 2004/2005, there were about 39,000 admissions to youth custody and community correctional services in eight reporting jurisdictions, according to a new Juristat. The five jurisdictions excluded from this report were: Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, the Yukon, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.

Probation accounted for 41% of total admissions in 2004/2005, followed by remand (36%), sentenced custody (14%), the community portion of custody and community supervision orders (6%), and deferred custody and supervision (3%).

One of the concerns with the Young Offenders Act (YOA), which preceded the YCJA, was the overuse of custody. A key objective of the YCJA was to decrease the use of custody.

The Juristat examined changes in admissions during two periods: since the introduction of the YCJA, and on a year-over-year basis. (For the purpose of this comparison, data on young people aged 12 to 15 in Ontario were also excluded.)

Since the introduction of the YCJA, the number of admissions to youth custody and community correctional services has declined 33%. Admissions to probation have declined 54%, sentenced custody admissions are down 50%, and remand declined by 22%. On the other hand, admissions to the community portion of a custody and supervision order have increased 12%, while admissions to deferred custody were up 27%.

On a year-over-year basis, admissions to probation in 2004/2005 were down 21% from the year before. This drop drove the overall decline in admissions to correctional services. Although this decrease was substantial, it was not as large nor as widespread as that experienced in 2003/2004. This was the year immediately following the enactment of the YCJA, when declines took place in all reporting jurisdictions.

A period of community supervision became a mandatory component for most custody orders, likely reducing the need to impose a probation order as a measure to reintegrate youth into the community and thus contributing to the drop in probation admissions.

Overall admissions to sentenced custody and to remand each fell 7% in 2004/2005. This was a much smaller decrease than the year before and in some jurisdictions there were increases.

The total number of admissions of Aboriginal youth remained stable in 2004/2005 at 6,200, whereas among non-Aboriginal youth, admissions had declined from 2003/2004. Although Aboriginal youth represent about 5% of the total youth population, they accounted for one-quarter of sentenced custody admissions, 22% of admissions to remand and 15% of admissions to probation.

This release is based on the annual Juristat: “Youth Custody and Community Services in Canada”. It examines the number of annual admissions to correctional facilities or to community supervision programs following enactment of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

Data on admissions are collected when an individual enters a custodial facility or community supervision program. These data measure the changing case flow of correctional agencies over time. However, they do not indicate the number of unique individuals since the same person can be included several times in annual admission totals.

Details on average counts of young persons in sentenced custody, remand and probation for 2004/2005 were released in The Daily of September 20, 2006.

Available on CANSIM: tables 251-0009 to 251-0017.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 3323.

The Juristat: ”Youth Custody and Community Services in Canada”, 2004/2005, Vol. 27, no. 2, (85-002-XIE, free) is now available from our website. From the Publications module, under Free Internet publications, choose Crime and justice, then Juristat. A paper version (85-002-XPE, $11/$100) is also available.

For further information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Client Services (613-951-9023; toll-free 1-800-387-2231), Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics.

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