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One could argue that more youths than adults are convicted
because adults are more likely to be tried for crimes that they have not
committed. This argument can not be supported by any empirical data, however,
because there is no measure of ‘innocence’ in the criminal justice
system (‘not guilty’ and ‘innocent’ are conceptually
distinct - if one is innocent of a crime, the offence was not committed; if one
is found not guilty, sufficient proof was not presented by the court to warrant
a conviction for an offence). The fact that youths were found guilty more often
than were adults in 1997/98 does not, in itself, logically entail that a
greater proportion of adults were innocent of the crimes for which they were
charged. A smaller proportion of adult cases ended in conviction simply because
guilt could not be established beyond a reasonable doubt in 39% of adult cases,
versus 33% of youth cases. It is fair to assume that innocent people are found
in equal proportions in the adult and youth courts, but perhaps because youth
cases are processed within a short period of time and the sanctions available
for youths are considered less severe, youths are convicted at a higher rate
than adults.
The Use of Custodial Dispositions for Minor
Offences
Not only are youths more likely than adults to be sentenced to
custody, they are also more likely than adults to be given custodial sentences
for minor offences. Adults are routinely sentenced to prison more often than
youths for violent and property crimes, while in each year included in our
analysis, youth cases for which the most serious charge was neither a property
offence nor a violent offence, were more likely to result in a custodial
disposition than comparable adult cases. These offences include Criminal Code
violations neither classified as violent nor property offences, such as breach
of recognizance, failure to appear, impaired driving, Narcotics Control Act
violations and violations of other federal statutes including the Young
Offenders Act.
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