Highlights

• In 2006/2007, youth courts in Canada processed 56,463 cases, involving 179,873 charges. Although consistent with the overall caseload in 2005/2006, it is 26% lower than that in 2002/2003, the year prior to the enactment of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA).

• Every province and territory has experienced drops in youth court caseload since the introduction of the YCJA. There were five jurisdictions where the caseload in 2006/2007 was at least 30% lower than in 2002/2003 – Northwest Territories (-52%), Newfoundland and Labrador (-47%), Yukon (-45%), British Columbia (-37%) and Ontario (-30%).

• Over the same period, drops of between 21% to 24% occurred in Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Alberta and Nunavut. In the remaining provinces (Nova Scotia, Quebec, Manitoba and Saskatchewan), the youth court caseloads declined by less than 20%.

• Since reaching a high of 70% in 1998/1999, the proportion of cases where the youth either pleaded guilty or was found guilty has been gradually declining. Sixty percent of cases completed in youth court resulted in a finding of guilt in 2006/2007, the lowest proportion recorded.

• Consistent with the objectives of the YCJA, fewer youth cases are receiving a custodial sentence. In 2006/2007, about 17% or 5,640 of all guilty cases resulted in a sentence to custody. This compares to 13,246 or 27% of all guilty cases in 2002/2003.

• Probation continues to be the most frequently ordered sentence for youth, with 59% of guilty youth cases receiving this sentence in 2006/2007. However, this proportion is 11 percentage points lower than in 2002/2003, the year prior to the enactment of the YCJA.

• The new sentences for youth, as prescribed in the YCJA are not commonly used. In 2006/2007, of the new sentences, deferred custody and supervision orders were handed down most frequently. Of the 34,065 guilty cases, 1,080 (3%) received such an order.

• Youth court cases are becoming more complex. In 2006/2007, 6 out of every 10 cases involved multiple charges. In comparison, in 1991/1992 (the first year for which youth court data are available), multiple charge cases represented 45% of youth court cases.

• Since reaching an all-time high of 164 days in 2003/2004, the mean elapsed time to process a case in youth court has been gradually declining. In 2006/2007, the mean elapsed time from first to last court appearance was 156 days. Despite the decline, the elapsed time is still well above the 131 days in 2002/2003.