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Understanding Youth Experiences with the Criminal Justice System as Victims and Survivors

The following sections provide a brief overview of youth experiences with the criminal justice system as victims and survivors. While this page explores various types of victimization that youth may experience, it is important to note that broader structural inequalities and systemic discrimination can further compound a victim/survivor’s experience. For more information, click on Indigenous youth and Black youth. For additional resources on youth and the Canadian youth criminal justice system, click on bibliography.

• Victimization of Youth

  Research has consistently found that young people, aged 15 to 24, are more likely to experience victimization than Canadians over the age of 25, with a sharper decline seen in those aged 35 and older.^Footnote16 At the same time, most young people do not report their victimization to the police or other agencies, such as child protection services. Individuals may choose not to report for many reasons, with the most common ones being the belief that the incident is minor or not important enough to report.^Footnote17

  Youth may also experience traumatic events during their childhood, often referred to as adverse childhood experiences, which can include abuse, neglect, parental separation, death of a family member and poor parental mental health.^Footnote18 A study by McMaster University found the majority of respondents had at least one adverse experience during their childhood, with physical abuse, emotional abuse, and witnessing intimate partner violence, as the most commonly reported types.^Footnote19 Violence within a child’s home, whether witnessed or directly experienced, can impact their wellbeing and contribute to emotional, physical, social, cognitive, and behavioural problems.^Footnote20

  Toxic stress during childhood—as a result of adverse childhood experiences, multigenerational trauma and systemic discrimination^Footnote21—can have detrimental effects on the health and wellbeing of children.^Footnote22 For example, toxic stress can increase the risk of chronic diseases, and negatively impact a child’s ability to manage their emotions, make decisions, respond to stress, control impulses, and learn and complete school. As a consequence, individuals who experience adverse childhood experiences are more likely to experience mental health problems, teenage pregnancy, substance use problems, and difficulty forming healthy relationships.^Footnote23 Additionally, adverse childhood experiences may continue to have an impact on victims throughout their lives. For instance, these individuals are more likely to experience subsequent victimization as adults.^Footnote24

• Peer Violence: Bullying

  Research has shown that one in five Canadian children and youth report having been bullied at least a few times a month, and that bullying occurs most often in schools or online.^Footnote25 Bullying in schools is one of the most common forms of peer violence, and can present itself in the following ways:

  • physical, such as hitting or stealing;
  • verbal, such as name calling or making threats; and
  • psychological, such as spreading rumours or socially excluding someone.

  Cyberbullying, a form of bullying that occurs in an online setting, is also common among children and youth.^Footnote26 It can be particularly harmful as the bully can remain anonymous, have a much larger audience, and use more hurtful language than they would in person.^Footnote27 Research has shown that bullying (including cyberbullying) can lead to physical injuries as well as negative emotional and behavioural outcomes, such as depression, poor mental health, academic problems, suicidal ideation, and low self-esteem.^Footnote28

  Bullying is often directed towards an individual because they have one or multiple specific characteristics. This could include, for example, their social class, ethno-cultural background, religion, gender, sexual orientation, ability, and appearance. As a result, bullying tends to disproportionately affect marginalized youth, such as LGBTQ2 youth, racialized youth, and youth with disabilities.^Footnote29

• Dating Violence

  Dating violence, which is committed by a current or former intimate partner,^Footnote30 is another form of victimization that youth experience. It is estimated that one in three youth have experienced physical and/or emotional abuse in their dating relationships.^Footnote31 Oftentimes, youth and the adults around them tend to minimize their partner’s abusive and controlling behaviours, such as constant texting, cyberstalking, controlling what they wear, and controlling with whom they interact. In the media, obsession and jealousy in relationships tend to be idealized, which can cause individuals to view harmful relationships as normal and even romantic. As a result, some youth may not recognize controlling behaviours as abusive.^Footnote32

  Young girls are disproportionately affected by violence in their dating relationships. According to police-reported data, girls aged 15 to 19 are significantly more likely to experience an abusive relationship than boys.^Footnote33 Young girls who experience dating violence are also more likely to experience subsequent violence in their intimate relationships as adults.^Footnote34 While dating violence is specific to individuals involved in romantic relationships, it may also be understood within the broader category of gender-based violence, which is directed toward a person because of their gender, gender expression, gender identity, or perceived gender. For more information about gender-based violence, please see the Women’s theme.

• Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse

  With the rise in the use of technology, children and youth have increasingly been experiencing online sexual exploitation and abuse. According to Public Safety Canada, between 2014 and 2020, Cybertip.ca—Canada’s tip line focused on online child sexual exploitation and abuse—received over 4.3 million reports.^Footnote35

  Online child sexual exploitation and abuse can include luring a child or youth or sexually soliciting them to groom or entice them to engage in sexual activities or conversations, recording or distributing online child sexual abuse materials, and using coercion or threats to extort online sexual abuse materials from them. This type of victimization has lasting and devastating impacts on victims due to the permanent nature of online child sexual abuse materials. This can lead to the fear of being recognized by someone who has seen the materials, feelings of loss of control over the creation and distribution of the abusive materials, as well as feelings of self-blame.^Footnote36