Backgrounder: Youth Justice Fund

The Youth Justice Fund provides grants and contributions to projects that encourage a more effective youth justice system, respond to emerging youth justice issues and enable greater citizen and community participation in the youth justice system.

The Youth Justice Fund has three components:

• Youth Justice Main Fund;
• Drug Treatment; and
• Guns, Gangs and Drugs.

Projects must meet at least one of the following objectives:

• Establish special measures for violent young offenders;
• Improve the system's ability to rehabilitate and reintegrate young offenders;
• Increase the use of measures, outside the formal court process, that are often more effective in addressing some types of less serious offending;
• Establish a more targeted approach to the use of custody for young people; and
• Increase the use of community-based sentences for less serious offending.

The Fund supports the development, implementation, and evaluation of pilot projects that provide programming and services for youth in conflict with the law. It supports professional development activities, such as training and conferences, for justice professionals and youth service providers. Additionally, it funds research on the youth justice system and related issues.

Projects must target youth who are between the ages of 12 and 17 and currently in conflict with the law, or justice professionals and/or service providers who work with these youth.

To learn more about the Youth Justice Fund, please visit our Web site at: www.canada.justice.gc.ca/youth.

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Department of Justice Canada
June, 2012