Youth court statistics

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Youth courts in Canada processed 58,379 cases involving 191,054 charges in 2008/2009. This represents a slight decrease in the caseload from a year earlier. The youth court caseload has been relatively stable since 2004/2005.

The number of cases processed in 2008/2009 was 23% lower than in 2002/2003, the year prior to enactment of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA).

Youth court cases are taking longer to process. In 2008/2009, the median elapsed time from first to last court appearance was 119 days, over a month longer than the median of 81 days in 2002/2003.

Cases with a finding or plea of guilt accounted for 59% of cases disposed of in youth courts in 2008/2009. The proportion of guilty findings varied by offence. The highest was 90% for cases in which the young person was accused of being unlawfully at large.

Fewer youth are being sentenced to custody under the YCJA than under the previous legislation, the Young Offenders Act. In 2008/2009, 5,307 cases, or about 15% of all guilty youth cases, resulted in a sentence of custody, compared with 13,237 cases (27%) in 2002/2003.

Probation is still the most frequently ordered sentence for young people. It was imposed in 60% of guilty cases in 2008/2009 compared with 70% in 2002/2003.

Available on CANSIM: tables 252-0047 to 252-0050.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 3309.

The Juristat article "Youth court statistics, 2008/2009," Vol. 30, no. 2, (85-002-X, free), is now available. From the Key resource module of our website under Publications, choose All subjects, then Crime and Justice, and Juristat.

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