Aboriginal youth incarceration report alarming

While the number of B.C. youth being incarcerated has declined, the proportion of Aboriginal youth in custody has more than doubled, according to a recent report.

The report, released by the Child and Youth Officer for British Columbia last month, says the number of youth being incarcerated overall has dropped from 400 in 1996/97 to 134 in 2005/06. But Aboriginal youth are now seven times more likely to be incarcerated than their non-Aboriginal counterparts, up from three times more likely in 1996/97.

The main reason for Aboriginal youth over-representation in custody, according to B.C. Child and Youth Officer Jane Morley, may be a lack of understanding of the barriers and challenges Aboriginal youth face. She cited another part of the report that noted how almost 70 per cent of the youth have been told by a health professional that they have a serious health condition or disability.
"Some of the youth have [Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)] or Attention Deficit Disorder and that could be an explanation as to why. FASD has a kind of invisibility. It's difficult to recognize," she said. "This would explain why it's hard for some of them to comply; it doesn't necessarily mean they're bad kids."

Theresa Wesley, Prince Rupert Urban Aboriginal Justice Program Co-ordinator, agreed with Morley, saying she has had a number of clients that have clearly had "cognitive impairments" or been diagnosed with learning disabilities.

"I had this one young man who simply didn't know he had a court date," said Wesley. "Some of them are asked to do community service and they simply can't do it, unless they have someone pick them up and take them there."

Wesley, though, added that "systemic racism" is just as much a factor in the lopsided number of Aboriginal youth in custody.

"When the Youth Criminal Justice Act came in a couple of years ago, it was fully loaded with talk about restorative justice and it was understood that more referrals would be coming our way," she said. "But our referrals have actually gone down since then, to the point where it's almost nil."

Wesley said there is a "lot of hesitancy" in the justice system to send youth to alternative justice programs like hers because there is a fear that jobs may be lost, as well as an "old school" mentality that believes in the standard methods.

In her paper, Morley observed how the Youth Criminal Act envisioned a partnership role for families and communities in the youth justice system and that there must be interventions that "respond to the needs of Aboriginal young persons with special requirements." It also emphasized the importance of respect for cultural differences.

"Although there have been no formal studies, from an anecdotal point of view, the restorative justice programs have been successful," said Morley. "Unfortunately, we've been hearing from a number of programs in First Nations communities that they're not getting referrals from the youth justice system."

Morley's report advises that community-based First Nations programs be developed or enhanced and that barriers to the provision of referrals by the youth justice system to these community-based programs be identified and removed.

It was also suggested that a profile of incarcerated Aboriginal youth be developed and maintained as a first step in creating strategies to address the problem of their over-representation in B.C. custody centres.

Other findings include:
· Three-quarters of Aboriginal youth in custody surveyed by the McCreary Centre in 2004 said they had been in government care at some point in their lives.

· Ninety-six per cent of female youth in custody in B.C. (a disproportionate number of which are Aboriginal) report having previously experienced physical and/or sexual abuse, 63 per cent of these experiencing sexual abuse specifically.