Youth crime down: Stats Can
National Post, Global TV network, various Canwest newspapers, CanWest News Service, Meagan Fitzpatrick, Wednesday, September 20, 2006
OTTAWA - For the second year in a row, the number of youths aged 12 to 17 behind bars or on probation has gone down, according to an analysis from Statistics Canada.
The report suggests that the implementation of the Youth Criminal Justice Act in 2003 is having an effect in driving the numbers down.
In 2004 to 2005, an average of 1,300 young people in sentenced custody on any given day, down about 16 per cent from 2003 to 2004 and down 50 per cent since the YCJA went into effect. About 700 of these individuals were in secure custody, down 14 per cent, while 600 were in open custody, a 20 per cent drop. Read More ..
Statistics Canada - Homicides for the year 2003
About 4 in 10 youth accused of homicide also had a criminal record.
Slightly more than 15% of youth victims had a criminal record.
Increase in homicides committed by youth
There were 57 youths aged 12 to 17 years accused of homicide in 2003, 15 more than in 2002 and 8 more than
the previous 10-year average. The youth homicide rate had generally been declining between 1995 and 2001.
As in previous years, youth were more likely than adults to kill other youth and young adults. Of the solved homicides committed by youth in 2003, about half (54%) of the victims were between 12 and 24 years old compared with about one-quarter of victims killed by adults.
There were 33 homicides committed against children under the age of 12 in 2003, the lowest number in over 25 years. Of these victims, 14 (or 42%) were under one year of age.
Of the 27 solved homicides against children, 23 were killed by a parent: 9 by a father, 4 by a step-father, 10 by a mother and 1 by a step-mother (in one incident, both parents were accused). In addition, 2 children were killed by their day-care provider and 2 by a stranger.
Teens face trial for taxi murder
The Age, (Australia), by Geesche Jacobsen, October 23, 2006
Two teenage girls will stand trial for the murder of Sydney taxi driver who died of a heart attack after they allegedly assaulted him.
Youbert Hormozi, 53, was allegedly beaten and dragged from his taxi by the girls, now aged 14 and 15, at Canley Heights in Sydney's south-west on January 31. Read More ..
Girl burned in lighter fluid attack
The Toronto Star (Canada's largest daily newspaper), by JOANNA SMITH, STAFF REPORTER, Oct. 4, 2006
A 13-year-old girl suffered second-degree burns to her chest after two boys sprayed her with lighter fluid and set her shirt on fire in York, police say.
Two teenage boys were recording themselves with a digital camera as they played with lighter fluid and set their clothing on fire in the Eglinton Ave. W. and Black Creek Dr. area around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, police said. Read More ..
Consider the mysteries of the teen mind
Many factors involved when a teens crosses from activism into unlawfulness
The Toronto Star, ANDREA GORDON, FAMILY ISSUES REPORTER, June 12, 2006.
Joseph Conrad called it "the glow in the heart that with every year grows dim." A century later, it's still hard to beat that description of the passion, energy and idealism of youth.
But how do those positive forces turn into destructive ones? What is it that makes a teenager cross the line from activism into unlawfulness?
The answer, according to experts in the dynamics of adolescence, is a complex mix of personality, circumstances, family relationships, peers and physiology. Read More ..
12-year-old charged in triple murder
Canadian Press, By JUDY MONCHUK, April 24, 2006
MEDICINE HAT, Alta. (CP) - A 12-year-old girl and a 23-year-old man were arrested in Saskatchewan early Monday and each charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of a southeastern Alberta family.
RCMP, acting on a tip, arrested the pair in Leader, Sask., about two hours from this quiet community, which has been rocked by the weekend slayings.
"We don't know the relationship between the two, we believe they are acquaintances," Sgt. Dave Townsend of the Medicine Hat Police Service told a packed news conference. Read More ..
10 young students strip-searched in Texas
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, various newspapers and media in the U.S.A. and Canada, Friday, January 7, 2005
LA MARQUE, Texas -- Ten students between the ages of 11 and 12 were strip-searched as officials at their
charter school tried to find a missing $10 bill.
Seven girls and three boys at the Mainland Preparatory Academy were searched down to their underwear
Thursday after one of the girls reported the money missing, said Principal Wilma Green. The money was not
found.
"It's not illegal," La Marque Police Chief Richard Price said. "We don't see it as a criminal offense." But he said an investigation was underway. Read More ..
N.S. teen gets adult sentence for killing woman with stolen car
Canadian Press, various newspapers across Canada, By JAMES KELLER, January 11, 2006
HALIFAX (CP) - Relatives of a 52-year-old mother of three killed by a teenage car thief trying to elude police say they are satisfied with the adult sentence given to the youth.
Archibald Billard, 17, of Dartmouth, N.S., was sentenced Wednesday to 5 1/2 years in custody. He's already served almost one year of that sentence in a youth detention centre. The judge hearing the case said a shorter youth sentence wouldn't reflect the severity of the crime: a high-speed car chase that resulted in the death of teacher's aide Theresa McEvoy.
The victim's brother, Joe McEvoy, told reporters the adult sentence was needed to publicly denounce what Billard did. Read More ..
Masked teen on way to fight
Died in fall from car during chase
Two groups doing battle at Vaughan park
Toronto Star, JIM WILKES, STAFF REPORTER, Oct. 17, 2005
A Woodbridge teen was fatally injured as he and other masked youths armed with weapons chased other teens to assault them, police revealed yesterday.
Pritpaul Singh Dhanoa, 17, died in hospital Saturday, hours after he fell from a moving car and struck his head on a curb along Chancellor Dr. in Vaughan.
York Region police said there was no evidence to support earlier reports that Dhanoa had been repeatedly kicked in the head and thrashed with sticks by up to six assailants in the Friday night fight. Read More ..
N.S. has 1,500 teens addicted to gambling
The Chronicle Herald, By AMY SMITH / Provincial Reporter, January 7, 2005
Hundreds of Nova Scotians not old enough to vote or drink are addicted to gambling.
About 1,500 adolescents are problem gamblers.
As well, the province estimates that very serious gambling problems affect 15,000 adult Nova Scotians, half of them VLT players who lose an average of $1,200 a month. Read More ..
'Drop the knife,' girl, 9, ordered
It was only plastic, family explains Oakville guard's actions questioned
Toronto Star, EMILY MATHIEU, STAFF REPORTER, Nov. 18, 2004
When Guillermo Mondragon heard the security guard scream, "Drop the knife!" his first instinct was to protect his 9-year-old granddaughter, Ariel.
Then he realized it was his granddaughter the guard was yelling at.
"She was stunned, she stood there frozen," said Mondragon, 55. "She was just pale and shaking."
The guard at Oakville Place Mall yelled at Ariel because she was playing with a plastic retractable knife, Mondragon said.
Mondragon ran over and wrapped his arms around his terrified granddaughter. The guard approached the girl shortly after, Mondragon said, and despite his presence, struck her hand to get her to drop the knife. Read More ..
Ontario youth call for end to violence
Toronto Star and various other newspapers, Canadian Press, Nov. 15, 2004
Dozens of young people from across Ontario are calling for an end to youth violence with a study released today that finds abuse to be widespread and on the rise.
The report, organized by Ontario's Office of Child and Family Service Advocacy and the group Voices for Children, was based on the stories of 80 young people who spoke about their experiences with school bullying, domestic assault, street violence and attacks within institutions. Read More ..
Constables assault convictions reversed
Officers found guilty of assault
Judge erred in evaluating records
Toronto Star, NICK PRON, COURTS BUREAU, Oct. 13, 2004
Two Toronto police officers found guilty four years ago of beating up a teenager had those convictions overturned yesterday. One of the officers had been facing jail. Read More ..
8-Year-Old Handcuffed, Put In Jail After School Fight
Associated Press, various media in U.S.A. and Canada, August 31, 2004
ESPANOLA, N.M. , U.S.A.-- A New Mexico third-grader was handcuffed and arrested by police after hitting another student with a basketball, the child's mother and her lawyer say. Read More ..
Lawsuit Planned in Arrest of 8-Year-Old
Associated Press, various newspapers in the U.S.A. and Canada, August 31, 2004
ESPANOLA, N.M. -- The mother of a third-grader handcuffed and taken to the police station after hitting another child with a basketball has filed a notice that she intends to sue the Espanola school district, city police and the jail. Read More ..
Independent police probe urged
16-year-old Toronto girl detained on officer's 'misleading' account. Lawyer says investigation should consider perjury charge. Read More ..
Young offenders move criticized
New ministry to handle cases `Punks' coddled, say Tories, police
Toronto Star, January 7, 2004, page A7 Read More ..
Study finds girls molest young boys
THE PRESS, NZ, By TIM HUME, July 1, 2004
"10-year-old Texas boy fatally shoots his father at start of weekend visit"
ASSOCIATED PRESS, various newspapers in U.S.A. and Canada, August 28, 2004
Boys used child-protection lessons to frame their stepfather as a sex abuser
Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, Australia, By Leonie Lamont, February 4, 2004
An 11-year-old boy who hated his stepfather used information learned during child-protection lessons at school to accuse the man of sexually abusing him and enlisted his younger brother to tell a similar story. Read More ..
Homeless man jailed 8 months on preteens' bogus attack allegation
GARDEN GROVE, Calif. Associated Press (AP), January 28, 2004
Eight months after he was locked up for allegedly attacking three preteen girls in a park, a homeless man was freed after the girls admitted making up the story so one of them wouldn't be punished for being late to school. Read More ..