Youth justice reform in Canada: reducing use of courts and custody without increasing youth crime

Until the early 1990s, youth offending was a largely ‘non-partisan issue’ in Canada. The Young Offenders Act (YOA),1 which came into force in 1984, was passed with the unanimous consent of parliament. However, while the reported youth crime rate peaked in the early 1990s, since then controversy over the appropriate responses to youth offending has markedly increased in Canada.