Evaluation of the Youth Justice Initiative Funding Components
1. INTRODUCTION
The Youth Justice Initiative (YJI) is a multi-faceted approach to youth justice designed to create a fairer, more effective youth justice system, defined as:
- appropriate use of courts by youth justice officials;
- appropriate use of custody by judges;
- responses by youth justice officials that are proportionate to the severity of the offence and the degree of responsibility of the offender;
- and enhanced rehabilitative and re-integrative opportunities (Department of Justice, 2008, September, p. 5).
The YJI grew out of the Youth Justice Renewal Initiative (YJRI). Launched in 1999, the YJRI was designed to support the development of a new legislative framework for youth justice, the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA), and to assist with its implementation.[1] The YJI continued the programming elements developed under the YJRI, but shifted the emphasis from supporting the implementation of the YCJA to maintaining programs and responding to new and emerging youth justice issues. The YJI consists of three funding components as well as a policy component.[2] The three funding components are:
- Youth Justice Services Funding Program (YJSFP);
- Intensive Rehabilitative Custody and Supervision (IRCS) Program; and
- Youth Justice Fund (YJF).
The Department of Justice Canada (the Department) conducted an evaluation of the YJI funding components. This document constitutes the evaluation’s final report.
1.1. Purpose of the Evaluation
The primary purpose of the evaluation was to assess the relevance, program design and implementation, effectiveness, and economy and efficiency for each of the three funding components of the YJI for the fiscal years 2005–2006 to 2008–2009. The Department of Justice Evaluation Division directed the evaluation, and an Evaluation Advisory Committee (EAC), with representatives from each funding component, oversaw the evaluation.
1.2. Structure of the Report
This report contains five sections, including the introduction. Section 2 provides the background and an overview of the YJI funding components; Section 3 describes the methodology for the evaluation; Section 4 summarizes the key findings; and Section 5 presents the conclusions and recommendations.
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