The Misinformed Versus the Misunderstood

The Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) came into effect in 2003 as a response to the overincarceration of youth that occurred under its predecessor, the Young Offender’s Act (YOA). Parliament’s intention was clear in repealing and replacing the YOA in favour of the more restorative YCJA: no longer would custody be considered an appropriate response to youth crime. More than a decade has passed since the introduction of the YCJA, and statistics reveal that it has had incredible success in reducing the rate of overall youth incarceration. What remains problematic, however, is the persistent and prevailing issue of the overincarceration of Indigenous youth. The purpose of this article is to unpack the complexity of this issue, identify its causes, and to ultimately propose different strategies to help reduce a custodial response to Indigenous youth crime. In achieving this goal, the article will begin with an overview of the YCJA and an exploration of its restorative provisions to argue that the legislation itself is not at fault. The article will then provide current statistics on the overincarceration of Indigenous youth, and subsequently, examine some of the most popular explanations as to why the issue continues to persist. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the article will conclude by proposing several strategies – such as the implementation of more Aboriginal Youth Courts – to better address the overincarceration of Indigenous youth moving forward.