Review Essay: Change, Continuity, and Public Opinion in Youth Justice

• Author: John Minkes
• DOI: 10.1177/1057567707310582
• Date: 01 December 2007
• Published date: 01 December 2007
• Subject Matter: Articles

Change, Continuity, and Public

Opinion in Youth Justice

John Minkes

Swansea University, Singleton Park, Wales, UK

Doob, A., & Cesaroni, C. (2004). Responding to Youth Crime in

Canada. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press. Pp. 305.

Campbell, K. M. (Ed.). (2005). Understanding Youth Justice in

Canada. Toronto, Canada: Pearson Prentice Hall. Pp. 377.

Carrington, P. J., & Schulenburg, J. (Eds.). (2004). Canadian

Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Volume 46–3,

Special Issue: The Youth Criminal Justice Act.

Tonry, M., & Doob, A. (2004). Youth Crime and Youth Justice:

Comparative and Cross-National Perspectives. Chicago: University

of Chicago Press. Pp. 633.

Introduction

The overall objective of this essay is to discuss the history of and recent changes in the

Canadian youth justice system and attempt to place them in a broader international context.

In particular, the essay examines Doob and Sprott’s observation in their contribution to

Tonry and Doob’s volume that, in drafting the Youth Criminal Justice Act of 2002 (the

YCJA), “the [Canadian] government attempted to do the impossible: be sensible but seem

tough” (p. 225).

Three of the publications reviewed here–Doob and Cesaroni, Campbell’s edited collection,

and the special edition of the Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice–focus

on the Canadian youth justice system at and immediately after the implementation of the

YCJA in April 2003. It is not my intention to review them at length but to summarize their

approaches to the YCJA and its predecessors. They have much in common: they are broadly

welcoming of the new legislation and accept that its overarching aims are to divert young

offenders away from formal criminal justice procedures and restrict the use of custody to

those convicted of serious violence.

The fourth volume reviewed, Tonry and Doob’s edited book in the University of Chicago’s

annual series Crime and Justice: A Review of Research reflects the growing interest in this

area identified by Muncie (2006): “Comparative youth justice is notably underdeveloped,

but interest in this area is growing” (p. 42). It includes descriptions of youth justice systems in

a number of Western countries (including Canada) as well as chapters dealing specifically

with the roles of public opinion and restorative justice. In their more recent edited collection,

Muncie and Goldson (2006a) cover a slightly different range of countries and include

Japan; they also adopt a more avowedly critical stance, epitomized by Smandych (2006, p. 19) who

340

International Criminal

Justice Review

Volume 17 Number 4

December 2007 340-349

© 2007 Georgia State University

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10.1177/1057567707310582

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Review Essay