ABSTRACT
There is a growing antipathy among the North American public toward youth due to a widespread perception that young people are more disrespectful now than in the past, and that consequently they are more dangerous. In fact, in 2005 a national poll indicated that 63 percent of Canadians believed that sentences given to criminals – including sentences for young offenders – were not severe enough (Ottawa Citizen 2005, A1). Politicians, in concert with lobby groups (often organized by families of victims), argue that the epidemic of adolescent misbehavior is the result of poor parenting, dysfunctional families inhabiting certain geographical areas and class positions, and, most importantly, a lenient justice system. The conservative mantra decrying inadequate law and order is fraught with simplistic arguments that young people are getting away with murder. According to such logic, it follows that Canada’s young offenders’ law should be made tougher to stop youth from breaking the law. Politicians and other lawmakers are sensitive to public opinion polls and often act to assuage the fears of the public. There is, however, a contradiction between the public perception that youth are getting away with murder in part because of a lenient justice system and the empirical reality that children and youth are no more criminal or dangerous than in the past.
