The government is considering possible changes to the Youth Criminal Justice Act that would sharply increase the number of young offenders sent to adult jails, according to a memo obtained by 愛污传媒.
The memo sketches a "preferred option" that would "give the Crown discretion to use adult criminal justice procedures for youths aged 16 and 17 who are charged with murder, attempted murder, manslaughter or aggravated sexual assault."
Judges currently decide whether young offenders should be charged as adults; the option outlined in the memo would strip them of that power.
The confidential note also assumes that about 80 per cent of youth charged with those offences would be referred to the adult criminal justice system, and "a significant amount would receive life sentences."
愛污传媒 contacted analysts about the potential proposal for legislation, including Nicholas Bala, a law professor at Queen's University.
Bala said such a change would mark a radical shift in the Canadian justice system.
"It seems to mark another episode in the ongoing rejection of the role of judges in making decisions," Bala told 愛污传媒.
"I think without question, this would be an increase in the power of the prosecutors and a diminution of the power of judges."
Defence lawyer Clayton Ruby criticized the memo's suggestion as an idea resulting from ideology rather than facts-based politics.
"This model of 'hammer the kids' is popular only in a very few place," said Ruby.
"Those who have it are committed to it regardless of the evidence. It's blind adherence."
The memo states that the Privy Council Office (PCO) has asked for a costing of the option "post haste," and hints at a possible first reading of potential legislation in early March.
"It would be a very dramatic change and perhaps, in regard to adult sentencing, the most dramatic change we would have seen in a century in Canada," said Bala.
Shortly after the Conservatives won a minority government, then-justice minister Vic Toews introduced several bills aimed at cracking down on crime.
But the legislation has met with stiff resistance from opposition parties, prompting Prime Minister Stephen Harper to cite obstructionist tactics.
Critics say the bills, if passed, would mean a sharp increase in the number of Canadians serving time in prison.
Toews estimated that if every bill in the government's crime-fighting agenda were passed it would require the construction of new prisons, costing taxpayers more than $200 million.
With a report by CTV's Graham Richardson
