Courts will often try to find solutions other than jail for minors who are accused and convicted of crimes. This can't be done in all situations, but it is an area of focus.
One reason for this is that studies have shown that jail doesn't actually help for a lot of minors. In fact, some studies have found that time spent behind bars can make the issues worse, and some have even claimed it can ruin lives. Below are a few key points from that study:
-- High school graduation rates plummeted by 39 percent when students had to spend any time in jail.
-- Those who were arrested and jailed were a full 67 percent more likely to find themselves back behind bars as young adults--by age 25.
-- In the above, researchers looked only at children who had been arrested. One group contained minors who were arrested and then imprisoned, while the other contained minors who were arrested and given other punishments, such as probation.
-- It was also more likely that those who had been locked up would later commit more serious crimes, like homicide, property crimes, and violent crimes. Researchers were not just looking at minor violations to find these trends.
As is shown, jail may be meant to deter crime and make kids reform when they are already involved in such activity at a young age, but it is possible that the opposite is happening. This could be due, at least in part, to creating an environment full of other young offenders. Therefore, it's important for young people to know about all of the legal options they have in Canada to avoid jail time.
Source: Think Progress, "STUDY: Throwing Kids In Jail Makes Crime Worse, Ruins Lives," Zack Beauchamp, accessed March 31, 2016
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