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OTTAWA - The Conservative government wants to tighten the Youth Criminal Justice Act to give judges more power to consider "denunciation and deterrence" when sentencing violent offenders.
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson also wants to be able to charge and sentence youths with violent criminal acts when they engage in reckless behaviour - such as a car chase - that endangers the public but doesn't actually injure anyone.
"This legislation will simplify the rules to keep these offenders off the streets when necessary to protect society," Nicholson said at a news conference Tuesday, where he was flanked by the mothers of two youths who died at the hands of young offenders.
"In the handling of other violent and repeat young offenders, the court often lacks the tools necessary to impose appropriate sentences," said Nicholson.
He cited the example of young offender who "demonstrates repeat criminal behaviour, or a casual attitude to the law, or a complete lack of empathy for his or her victim."
Liberals and the Bloc Quebecois immediately denounced the changes as a regressive move toward retribution in the justice system, as opposed to rehabilitation.
"Our view is the proposals that the government unveiled today do change the basic assumption that youth criminal justice should be about rehabilitation and reintegration and shift it towards a regime that would seek to punish and make an example out of young people," said Liberal justice critic Dominic LeBlanc.
"The evidence indicates that's not effective."
Serge Menard, the Bloc justice critic, put it more directly: "In short, the government wants judges to make an example of someone," he told the House of Commons.
Criminologist Nicholas Bala of Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., said the Conservatives are engaging in "political rhetoric" but he gave the proposed changes a very qualified endorsement.
"They're focusing on the more serious and violent offenders," said Bala.
"Having said that, it's important to recognize the courts already deal with these cases generally in a fairly effective way. I don't read the whole package as very dramatic."
The proposed changes would also loosen the rules on publicizing the names of violent young offenders; would make it easier to sentence youths as adults while keeping them in youth detention; and permit sentencing judges to take into account evidence of previous "extrajudicial sanctions" that did not result in formal criminal convictions.
"Under the current laws, it's impossible to identify a history of criminal behaviour when a young offender's previous criminal activity has been dealt with outside the formal court system," said the justice minister.
The amendments are dubbed "Sebastien's Law" in memory of Sebastien Lacasse, a 19-year-old Quebecer stabbed to death by a group of youths after Lacasse made racially charged comments about his ex-girlfriend's new beau at a house party in 2004.
The 17-year-old ringleader pleaded guilty and was sentenced as an adult.
The move to name laws after particular victims is popular in the United States and has been criticized there as a political ploy that can make poorly drafted laws untouchable.
"I personally wonder about naming it after one victim in particular," said Bala, noting the proposed changes deal with a number of offences besides youth homicides, which are rare.
He called the Lacasse murder "a tragic, tragic homicide."
"Having said that, the offender in that case did receive an adult sanction, so I'm not sure this particular piece of legislation would result any differently in that particular case."
The proposed new law adds to a pile of 11 other Conservative "tough-on-crime" measures that died when Prime Minister Stephen Harper prorogued Parliament in December. None of those other pieces of legislation has been reintroduced yet by the government in the Commons.
