State of the Criminal Justice System Dashboard
Youth
Welcome to the Youth theme of the State of the Criminal Justice System Dashboard. This section of the Dashboard helps illustrate how youth interact with the criminal justice system—whether as victims and survivors or as accused and offenders—and how intersectional factors, such as age, gender and ethno-cultural background, can shape their experiences.
This theme was created to acknowledge the vastly different experiences that youth and adults have when they come into contact with the criminal justice system. A key difference is that the youth criminal justice system has its own legislation, the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA), which applies to youth who are 12 to 17 years old at the time they allegedly committed a criminal offence. The Act considers a youth’s lower level of maturity and as a result, provides enhanced procedural protections, and places a greater emphasis on rehabilitation and reintegration as well as the importance of timely intervention.
As a result of these key differences in legislation and philosophical principles, the State of the Criminal Justice System Framework, which is largely focused on adults, was adapted to a youth-specific context. The data presented under this theme include accused and offenders aged 12 to 17. For youth victims and survivors, children under 12 may be included, depending on the availability of data.
On this page of the Dashboard you can look at information one of two ways:
- Click on one of the nine outcomes listed below to learn about related indicators and to explore the data currently available for youth.
- Click on Learn more for additional information on the diverse experiences of youth with the criminal justice system.