Police Discretion with Young Offenders

Table of Contents

• Executive Summary (PDF Version)
• Acknowledgments (PDF Version)
• List of Figures (PDF Version)
• List of Tables (PDF Version)
• I.  Introduction (PDF Version)
• II.  A Descriptive Profile (PDF Version)
  • 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)
  • 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)
  • 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)
  • 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)
  • 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)
• Methodological Appendix (PDF Version)