Crown Decision-Making Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act

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Table of Contents

• Executive Summary
• Introduction
  • 1. Research Questions
  • 2. Methodology
  • 3. The Observation Sample
  • 4. Analysis
  • 5. Methodological Issues
• Description of the Courts
  • 1. Court Caseloads
  • 2. Charging Authority
  • 3. The Key Actors
    • The Bench
    • Crown Prosecutors
    • Legal Representation
    • Other System Actors
  • 4. Information Sources Available to the Crown
  • 5. Case Characteristics
    • Demographic and Social Factors
    • Legal Characteristics
  • 6. The Court Environment
    • Crown and Defence Counsel Relationships
    • A Fine Balance
  • 7. Summary
• Charge Approval, Proceeding with and Dropping Charges
  • 1. The YCJA
  • 2. Charge Approval in British Columbia
    • Provincial Policy
    • Charge Approval Sample
    • Case Characteristics
    • Information Sources
    • Cases that were Approved to Court
    • No Further Action
    • More Information Required: Return Case to Police
    • Pre-charge Diversion to Extrajudicial Sanctions
  • 3. Proceeding with Charges: The Likelihood of Conviction and Public Interest
  • 4. Dropping Charges
  • 5. Summary
• Crown Referrals to Extrajudicial Sanctions
  • 1. The YCJA
  • 2. Provincial Policies
  • 3. Information Sources Used by Crown Counsel
  • 4. Characteristics of Diverted Cases
  • 5. Factors Related to Extrajudicial Sanctions
    • Social Characteristics of the Young Person
    • Legal Characteristics of the Case
    • Program Availability
    • The Role of the Community
  • 6. Characteristics of EJS Programs
  • 7. Multivariate Analysis of Factors Affecting Diversion Decisions
  • 8. Summary
• Bail Decision-making by Crown Counsel
  • 1. The YCJA
  • 2. Provincial Policies
  • 3. Rates of Release on Consent
  • 4. Information Sources Used by Crown Counsel
  • 5. Characteristics of Bail Cases
  • 6. Factors Related to Consent Releases
    • Social Characteristics
    • Legal Characteristics
    • Other Legal Factors
    • Alternatives to Detention
    • Program Availability
    • Idiosyncratic Decision-making
  • 7. Multivariate Analysis of Factors Affecting Consent Release
  • 8. Summary
• Crown Submissions to Sentence
  • 1. The YCJA
  • 2. The Content of the Crown Submission to Sentence
  • 3. Information Sources Used by Crown Counsel
    • Social Reports
    • Verbal Interaction
    • Defence-Crown Negotiations
  • 4. Case Characteristics
  • 5. Factors Related to Submissions to Sentence
    • Social Characteristics of the Young Person
    • Legal Characteristics of the Young Person
    • Program Availability
    • Other Factors
  • 6. Multivariate Analysis of Factors Affecting Submissions to Sentence
  • 7. Relationships between Actual and Recommended Sentence
  • 8. Cases Where the Crown Recommended Custody and Supervision
  • 9. Summary
• Discussion and Conclusions
  • 1. Similarities and Differences among the Youth Courts
  • 2. Decision-making
  • 3. The Research Questions
    • Charge Approval in British Columbia
    • Extrajudicial Sanctions
    • Pre-trial Detention
    • Submissions to Sentence
• References