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Youth Justice and the 'New Street Urchins' in Canada

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Youth Justice and the 'New Street Urchins' in Canada Youth Justice and the 'New Street Urchins' in Canada Kathy Sharon Powelson BA (Honours), Simon Fraser University, 2001 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS In the School of Criminology O Kathy Sharon Powelson 2005 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Spring 2005 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. Approval Name: Kathy Sharon Powelson Degree: Master of Arts Title of Thesis: Youth Justice and the "New Street Urchins" in Canada Examining Committee: Chair: Dr. Gail Anderson Professor of Criminology Dr. Robert Gordon Senior Supervisor Professor of Criminology Dr. Brian Burtch Supervisor Professor of Crimonology Dr. Robert Adamsoki External Examiner Chair, Criminology Department Kwantlen University College Date Approved: 101 200r SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENCE The author, whose copyright is declared on the title page of this work, has granted to Simon Fraser University the right to lend this thesis, project or extended essay to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. The author has further granted permission to Simon Fraser University to keep or make a digital copy for use in its circulating collection. The author has further agreed that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by either the author or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without the author's written permission.\ Permission for public performance, or limited permission for private scholarly use, of any multimedia materials forming part of this work, may have been granted by the author. This information may be found on the separately catalogued multimedia material and in the signed Partial Copyright Licence. The original Partial Copyright Licence attesting to these terms, and signed by this author, may be found in the original bound copy of this work, retained in the Simon Fraser University Archive. W. A. C. Bennett Library Simon Fraser University Burnaby, BC, Canada Abstract Over the last ten years, the number of street youth in Canadian cities has increased significantly. Concerns have been raised about how best to manage this group, many of whom are homeless, drug-addicted, HIV-infected, and/or involved in the sex trade. It has fallen to provincial governments to respond with new legislation and policy to regulate these "new street urchins," and the provincial statutes are similar, in many respects, to legislation linked with child-saving reforms at the beginning of the 2oth Century (notably, elements of the Juvenile Delinquents Act). Ironically, this old legislation was introduced to deal with a comparable group of troublesome, urban, "street urchins." The work of Cohen (1 985) and especially his notions of patterns of social control are used to explain the unintended consequences of reforms that began in the 1960s, and that have resulted in the new provincial youth control legislation. Dedication To Hannah, the greatest evidence that children and youth should not be defined as problems. And for Geoffrey, I am so blessed to share my challenges and successes with you. Acknowledgments I would to thank my family and Geoffrey. Your unconditional love and support remains the driving force of my success. To all the great folks at the McCreary Centre Society - at last you will no longer have to hear about my thesis! Special thanks to Angela Ahn for your fantastic technical skill! And, last, but not least, Faye, the voice of reason and logic. I wonder if I would be as cool as I am if you weren't my friend. Table of Contents .. Approval ........................................................................................................................ 11 ... Abstract ............................................................................................................................. 111 Dedication ......................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................ v Table of Contents ..........................................................................................................vi ... List of Tables ..................................................................................................................VIII Chapter One Introduction .............................................................................................. 1 Theorectical framework .................................................................................................. 4 Method ............................................................................................................................7 Chapter overview ............................................................................................................8 Chapter Two Early 20 th Century Youth Justice in Context ...................................... 12 Setting the stage ............................................................................................................ 12 J.J. Kelso and W.L. Scott: Canada's Child Savers ....................................................... 22 The Juvenile Delinquents Act (1 908) ........................................................................... 27 Early 20th Century British Columbia ......................................................................... 30 Chapter Three Destructuring and Deinstitutionalizations: The Replacement of the Juvenile Delinquents Act ..........................................................................................36 Section 3 Policy for Canada with respect to young offenders ...................................... 39 Chapter Four The Problem of Children and Youth at the End of the 2oth Century ............................................................................................................................ 53 The new street 'urchins' ............................................................................................... 54 The new street 'urchins': Drugs and the AIDS epidemic ............................................. 61 The new street 'urchins': Drugs & the sex trade ..........................................................65 An era of government cutbacks: A new way of "doing business" ................................ 73 The government response: changes in the social control of youth ............................... 77 Chapter Five Where are We Today? .......................................................................... 87 Youth violence ..............................................................................................................88 The Youth Criminal Justice Act ...................................................................................91 An increasing punitive approach ..................................................................................94 Why have reforms failed? ............................................................................................98 Chapter Six Implication and Future Directions in Youth Social Control .............. 105 Implications ................................................................................................................ 105 Recommendations for future research ...................................................................... 110 v i Applications of child welfare legislation ................................................................1 10 Impact of provincial legislation on the migration of street youth ........................... 111 Examinations of the social welfare appraoch in responding to and regulating troublesome youth ............................................................................................111 The role of informal mechanisms of social control ................................................ 112 Rural respones to troublesome youth ...................................................................... 112 The role of alternative measures in reducing recidvism ........................................ 113 Further explorations of street-involved and homeless youth ..................................113 The impact of the Youth Criminal Justice Act in responding to youth in trouble with the law and its influence on the social control of youth .......................... 114 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................115 References .................................................................................................................... 116 vii List of Tables Table 1 ..........................................................................................................................67 Table 2 ..............................................................................................................................72 Chapter One Introduction A man is walking by the riverside when he notices a body floating down stream. A $Sherman leaps into the river, pulls the body ashore, gives mouth to mouth resuscitation, saving the man's life. A few minutes later the same thing happens, then again and
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