Criminalization of minority youth in the youth justice system in Canada

Abstract

Despite the immense amount of research completed on adult correctional facilities within North America, little is known about the overrepresentation of visible minority youth within the juvenile justice system. The juvenile justice system is known for violent juvenile offenders, who become and remain habitual offenders. The juvenile justice system then faces questioning for creating professional criminals instead of focusing on effective rehabilitation. The face of the youth justice system within Canada is rapidly changing. Increasing forms of diversity serve as a principal pattern because the criminalization of minority youth occurs from cultural incompetence, unawareness, and insensitivity. This article recovers the institutional or systemic forms of treatment that minority youth face within the criminal justice system. It also further shows that there is little focus on the experiences of minority youth within juvenile correctional facilities due to a lack of information. Racialized and marginalized youth and young adults are apart of the vulnerable population within Canada. One must ensure that youth and young adults who are vulnerable within society, receive the best possible chance at achieve upward mobility. The youth justice system, from a racial justice lens, reveals slave-era origin within youth prisons, limiting opportunities for racialized youth across Canada. Racial antagonism within the youth justice system leads to the criminalization of minority youth, which serves as a foundation for why culture shapes the identity of racialized youth.