Program offers second chance for young offenders

News — 04 January 2011

The Patricia Centre for Children and Youth (PCCY) has sponsored a new program in the community called the Youth Justice Committee (YJC).

The program is focused on diverting low risk young offenders away from the formal court process.

The crown and police have the option of referring these youth to the YJC instead of putting them through a formal court procedure, depending on the nature of the charges and the history of the youth.

YJC Coordinator Bill Hovi says, “The purpose of this is that the program is a little more efficient, with a little more oweness on the person who did the harm to take the responsibility for what they’ve done, and as a result, make amends for that.”

Hovi says the program is conference based, and allows the victim to sit in on the conference. The offender will sit with the committee, and go through the charges or offences, while attempting to create a resolution that is acceptable to all parties.

“Once a conference is held, and there is a resolution agreement, and as long as all the terms of the resolution agreement are completed by the offender, then there is no criminal record and no need for them to go back to court,” reports Hovi.

As the committee is not yet full, no formal conferences have taken place, but Hovi is optimistic for early in the new year to have a full committee in place.

The program is available to youth aged 12 to 17 and is funded by the Ministry of the Attorney General with the Crown Attorney being the lead on the steering committee. YJC is currently looking for volunteer facilitators who are interested in serving on this committee, and will undergo training provided by the Ministry.

There is a need for older representatives, to ease the conflict of having younger aged facilitators who could be friends with the offenders. If you are interested in volunteering, you can contact Bill Hovi at 223-8550 for more information.

By Ally Dunham

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