The Weight of Discretion: Examining Perceptions, Decision-Making, and Overrepresentation in Canada's Youth Criminal Justice System

Authors

• Adrienne Graham, Dalhousie UniversityFollow

Keywords

Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA), youth justice, extrajudicial measures, police discretion, community policing, police legitimacy, procedural justice, Black youth, Indigenous youth, racialized youth, overrepresentation, systemic racism, youth-police relations, oversurveillance, rehabilitation and reintegration

Abstract

The Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) has changed the way that youth encounter Canada’s criminal justice system. While the reintegration and rehabilitation goals of the YCJA have decreased overall youth custody rates, Black and Indigenous youth continue to be treated differently than other youth. This paper examines the overrepresentation of Black and Indigenous youth in the criminal justice system, the impact of poverty on police oversurveillance, various policing practices, and the role of extrajudicial measures. Through discussing youth perceptions on police legitimacy alongside police perceptions of youth, this paper will demonstrate that in order to further the principles of the YCJA, the approach to policing in marginalized communities should prioritize community policing strategies, including the use of youth police officers, and the implementation of EJM programs while avoiding oversurveillance practices.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Adrienne Graham, "The Weight of Discretion: Examining Perceptions, Decision-Making, and Overrepresentation in Canada's Youth Criminal Justice System" (2026) 35:1 Dal J Leg Stud 35.