Table of Contents - Police Discretion with Young Offenders

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Table of Contents

• Executive Summary (PDF Version, 168 kb,PDF Help)

• Acknowledgments (PDF Version, 168 kb, PDF Help)

• List of Figures (PDF Version, 168 kb, PDF Help)

• List of Tables (PDF Version, 168 kb, PDF Help)

• I.  Introduction (PDF Version, 77.4 kb, PDF Help)

• II.  A Descriptive Profile (PDF Version, 472 kb, PDF Help)

  • 1.0  Detection of youth crime

    • 1.1  Clearing the incident

    • 1.2  Proportion of apprehended young persons who are charged

  • 2.0  Offences that are almost always dealt with informally, referred to alternative measures, or charged

  • 3.0  Informal action

    • 3.1  Frequency of use of informal action

    • 3.2  Referrals to external agencies

    • 3.3  Tracking of informal warnings

    • 3.4  Use of informal and formal warnings with young persons

    • 3.5  Other types of informal action

  • 4.0  Use of alternative measures

    • 4.1  Use of pre-charge alternative measures/diversion

    • 4.2  Process of making pre-charge referrals

    • 4.3  Use of post-charge alternative measures

    • 4.4  Feedback on cases referred to alternative measures

    • 4.5  Summary

  • 5.0  Discretion with offences against the administration of justice

  • 6.0  Discretion with provincial/territorial offences

  • 7.0  Procedures used to compel appearance in court

    • 7.1  The summons and appearance notice

    • 7.2  Release on a Promise to Appear (PTA)

    • 7.3  Release on an Officer In Charge undertaking

    • 7.4  Release on a Recognizance

    • 7.5  Summary: Methods of compelling appearance without detaining

    • 7.6  Detention for a judicial interim release hearing

    • 7.7  Offences that almost always result in arrest and detention

  • 8.0  Summary

• III.  Environmental Factors Affecting Police Discretion (PDF Version, 354 kb, PDF Help)

  • 1.0  The legal environment

  • 2.0  Provincial policies and procedures

    • 2.1  Modalities of delivery of Alternative Measures

    • 2.2  Crown screening versus police authority to charge

  • 3.0  External resources

  • 4.0  The nature of the community

    • 4.1  Degree of urbanization

    • 4.2  Socio-demographic characteristics

    • 4.3  Level and type of crime in the community

    • 4.4  Community-police relations

  • 5.0  Summary

• IV.  Organizational Factors Affecting Police Discretion (PDF Version, 371 kb, PDF Help)

  • 1.0  Size

  • 2.0  Centralization

  • 3.0  Hierarchy

  • 4.0  Specialization

    • 4.1  Youth squads and dedicated youth officers

    • 4.2  School liaison officers (SLO) and school resource officers (SRO)

    • 4.3  Policy and protocol for handling youth-related incidents

  • 5.0  Authority and responsibility for the decision to charge

  • 6.0  Policing styles: Reactive versus proactive policing

  • 7.0  Support for community policing

    • 7.1  The philosophical dimension

    • 7.2  The strategic dimension

    • 7.3  The tactical dimension

    • 7.4  The organizational dimension

  • 8.0  Summary

• V.  Situational Factors Affecting Police Discretion (PDF Version, 334 kb, PDF Help)

  • 1.0  Background

  • 2.0  Seriousness of the crime

    • 2.1  Presence of a weapon

    • 2.2  Harm done to a victim

  • 3.0  The role of the victim

    • 3.1  The victim's dispositional preference

    • 3.2  Type of victim

    • 3.3  Victim-offender relationship

  • 4.0  Co-offenders and apparent gang-related crime

    • 4.1  Gang-related crime

    • 4.2  Group crime

    • 4.3  Adult co-offender

  • 5.0  Under the influence of alcohol or drugs

  • 6.0  Location and time of day

  • 7.0  Prior record: contacts, alternative measures, charges, convictions

  • 8.0  Demeanour

  • 9.0  Age

  • 10.0  Gender

  • 11.0  Race

  • 12.0  Peer group and gang affiliations

  • 13.0  Home and school situations

  • 14.0  Parental involvement

  • 15.0  Summary

• VI.  Conclusions (PDF Version, 180 kb, PDF Help)

  • 1.0  The exercise of police discretion with youth

  • 2.0  Environmental factors influencing police discretion with youth

  • 3.0  Organizational factors influencing police discretion with youth

  • 4.0  Situational factors influencing police discretion with youth

  • 5.0  Implications for implementation of the YCJA

  • 6.0  Implications for future research

    • 6.1  A pre-post evaluation of the impact of the YCJA

    • 6.2  A baseline file study of police discretion under the YOA

    • 6.3  A "best practices" study of police discretion under the YCJA

    • 6.4  A study of the processing of administrative offences under the YCJA

    • 6.5  Improvement of the UCR2 Survey

• List of References (PDF Version, 124 kb, PDF Help)

• Methodological Appendix (PDF Version, 384 kb, PDF Help)

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