Chapter 3- Responding To Youth Crime: Historical Origins Of Juvenile Justice Legislation

Question 1

Childhood as a cultural artifact

Answer 1

Childhood is socially constructed and jot biologically based

Question 2

Earliest form of youth regulation

Answer 2

Classical legal governance
Made very little distinction between young and adult offenders and was primarily concerned with establishing guilt or innocence

Question 3

For a crime to have occurred in the legal sense

Answer 3

Acts reus

Mens rea

Question 4

Before 17th century childhood

Answer 4

European society viewed children as “little adults” and made few social and cultural distinctions on the basis of age

Question 5

Doli incapax

Answer 5

Children under the age of 7 are incapable of guilt and can’t be held criminally responsible

Children age 7-14 were considered fully doli incapax and unless the crown can prove otherwise, could not be legally convicted

Question 6

Classical legal approach goals

Answer 6

Retribution ( and eye for an eye, punishment deserved)
And
Deterrence (preventing crime through threat of punishment)

Question 7

4 explanations to move towards Juvenile Delinquents Act (1908)

Answer 7

1. Socio-economics
   - immigration
   - urbanization
   - industrialization
2. Social reformers
   - reformatory and industrial schools
   - public schools and child welfare
   - international influences
3. Social welfare penality
   - the Canadian state
   - the rise of social welfare
   - changes in punishment
4. Anti-institutional discourse
   - dissatisfaction with institutionalization
   - appeal of community strategies
   - probation

Question 8

Parens patriae

Answer 8

Requires that the state act “on the behalf of the child’s best interest” when parents are ill equipped to care and control them

Question 9

Modern legal governance

Answer 9

Particularistic- governance treats each case as unique
Knowledge based - the offender is a subject of knowledge and is investigated
A dense interlocking system of social controls - the community, and not just the state, plays a key role in exercising control and surveillance over offenders

Question 10

JDA based on 3 interconnected ideas (1908)

Answer 10

Parens patriae
Interventionist state
Best interest of the child

Question 11

Status offences

Answer 11

Actions that would not incite legal repercussions if done by an adult but because of the status (age) of the person engaging in the act, is a criminal offence. (Ex: drinking, gambling, promiscuity, etc)

Question 12

Indeterminate sentencing

Answer 12

(Rather than fixed)
Provides another means of discretion
Lacks proportionality

Question 13

Limitations to JDA

Answer 13

No concern for children’s rights

• indeterminate sentencing
• judges have too much discretion
• proportionality

Variation between provinces
- age differences (adult designation= adult sentencing)

Reformatories were very far (isolated)

• take on car real qualities
• disconnected from the rest of society

Status offences
- offences that were acceptable for adults to engage in but if a child was caught doing the same action, they were criminally liable