INTERPROVINCIAL VARIATION IN THE USE OF THE YOUTH COURT

In Canada, there is enormous variation in the rate at which provinces put young people, age 12 through 17, in custody. This paper examines d ata. from five provinces in an attempt to understand this variation. A cross Canada in 1993-4, there was one youth court case which resulted in a youth being put in custody for every 91 people age 12-17 in the c ountry. In Quebec, one youth court case resulted in a custodial dispos ition for every 218 people age 12-17. In contrast, the comparable figu res for Saskatchewan and Ontario are one custodial disposition for eve ry 58 and 71 young persons, respectively. It turns out that most of th e interprovincial variation in the use of custody can be explained by looking at the different rates at which the provinces bring cases - pa rticularly the less serious cases - to court and find young people gui lty of offences. Quebec, each year, has one youth court case for every 57 young people in the province. Ontario has one case for every 17 yo ung people in the province. Saskatchewan each year has one youth court case for every 11 young people in the province. Once a case gets to t he disposition stage of proceedings, ii appears that judges assign cus todial dispositions at comparable rates across provinces. Provincial p olicies, or lack of them, that determine how many young people are bro ught to the court appear to be the major determinant of provincial you ng offender custody rates.