Ch.5 Verified Test Bank Youth Voice Justice System

CHAPTER 5

Challenges in Hearing the Voice of Youth in the Youth Justice System

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The law that regulates criminal conduct for children and youth is based on a ________.
   1. legislative system
   2. binary system
   3. bifurcated system
   4. closed system
   5. ambiguous system
2. The punitive stance, which in recent years appears to have been increasingly adopted toward young people, is reflected in policies such as ________.
   1. zero tolerance
   2. anti-social behaviour orders
   3. curfews
   4. All of the above
   5. Both b and c
3. There are now provisions in juvenile criminal statutes throughout the world that provide for the transfer of youth to the adult system for ________.
   1. adjudication or punishment
   2. assessment or treatment
   3. safety or security
   4. education or sentence
   5. All of the above
4. In 1985, the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Youth Justice, known as the ________, recognized the special needs of young people and promote diversion from court proceedings.
   1. Kyoto Rules
   2. Rome Agreement
   3. Beijing Rules
   4. Riyadh Agreement
   5. Berlin Rules
5. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) ________.
   1. has been ratified in nearly 180 countries
   2. reiterates that children have a right to be protected from degrading and cruel punishment and to receive special treatment in the justice system
   3. states that children below a minimum age shall be presumed to lack the capacity to infringe the penal law
   4. All of the above
   5. Both b and c
6. The 2005 Nunn Commission on the administration of youth justice in Nova Scotia recommended ________.
   1. mental health facilities for at-risk youth
   2. additional training and funding for assessment and early intervention
   3. tougher sentences for youth convicted of criminal negligence causing death
   4. All of the above
   5. a and b only
7. According to the text, the ________ is the most ratified of all human rights instruments but also perhaps the most violated of the human rights treaties.
   1. UN Declaration on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
   2. Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA)
   3. Safe Streets and Communities Act
   4. Young Offenders Act (YOA)
   5. Restorative Justice Act (RJA)
      
8. Information was presented to the 2005 Nunn Commission on the administration of youth justice in Nova Scotia, showing that approximately ________ of repeat young offenders are living with disabilities, including mental health disabilities.
   1. 90 per cent
   2. 80 per cent
   3. 70 per cent
   4. 60 per cent
   5. 50 per cent
9. ________ are examples of courts or programs that apply the theory of therapeutic jurisprudence.
   1. Mental health courts
   2. Mental health diversion programs
   3. Teen courts
   4. All of the above
   5. Both a and b
10. Skowyra and Cocozza’s (2007) Blueprint for Change: A comprehensive model for the identification and treatment of youth with mental health needs in contact with the youth justice system includes which of the following principles?
    1. Youth should not have to enter the juvenile justice system solely in order to access mental health services or because of their mental illness.
    2. If diversion out of the juvenile justice system is not possible, youth should be placed in secure institutions that protect both the youth and the general public.
    3. Mental health services should meet the developmental realities of youth.
    4. Both a and b
    5. Both a and c
11. The case of Ashley Smith (discussed in Box 5.1) is an example of ________.
    1. the inappropriate use of closed custody and segregation
    2. the high quality of mental health services in youth detention centres, despite difficult cases
    3. a death that could probably not have been prevented
    4. Both a and b
    5. Both a and c
12. ________ is not listed as a main predictor of criminal behaviour and violence.
    1. Criminal history
    2. Anti-social personality
    3. Anti-social cognition
    4. Mental health illness
    5. Anti-social peers
13. Of the following risk factors associated with youth crime and delinquency, ________ is more difficult to change.
    1. impulsivity
    2. boredom
    3. status with peers
    4. drug misuse
    5. frustration
14. The findings of research conducted by Andrews and Bonta (1997) indicate that effective youth crime prevention outcomes are possible if programs target such intermediate factors as ________.
    1. individual characteristics
    2. situational factors
    3. criminogenic needs
    4. family risk factors
    5. genetic factors
15. Latessa, Cullen, and Gendreau (2002) use the term ________ to refer to the failure of programs that focus on punishment without producing a rehabilitative benefit.
    1. “correctional quackery”
    2. “medical fraudulency”
    3. “biased treatment”
    4. “juvenile pretense”
    5. “honest delinquency”
16. The literature on resiliency among children and young people shows that ________.
    1. not all children and young people exposed to multiple risk factors become offenders
    2. not all children and young people who offend grow up in low socio-economic classes
    3. most children and young people can overcome adversity and thrive
    4. All of the above
    5. Both a and b
17. Effective crime prevention programs used with at-risk youth are ________.
    1. designed to target crime-related characteristics that can be changed and that are predictive of future criminal activities
    2. delivered locally by volunteers assisted by trained staff
    3. delivered to those at the highest risk of re-offending and are individualized as much as possible
    4. Both a and b
    5. Both a and c
18. The ________ model suggests that programs should be delivered in a manner that addresses the specific risk level of the offender, targets his or her specific criminogenic needs, and takes into account the unique learning styles and capabilities of those involved in the program.
    1. risk-need-responsivity
    2. one-size-fits-all
    3. youth justice
    4. cultivation hypothesis
    5. frame analysis
19. We know from the ________ literature that not all young people exposed to multiple risk factors become offenders, nor do all young people who often grow up in low socio-economic classes.
    1. control balance
    2. social constructionism
    3. resiliency
    4. functionalism
    5. Marxist
20. The Quantum Opportunities Program attempts to reduce the risk factors for youth crime and delinquency through intervening in the field of ________.
    1. educational activities
    2. developmental activities
    3. motivational incentives
    4. All of the above
    5. Both a and c
21. ________ operate as a diversionary program for first-time minor offenders, which determine a restorative sentence for the youth that is fair and proportionate.
    1. Teen courts
    2. Mental health courts
    3. Adult courts
    4. Closed courts
    5. Trial courts
       
22. Brank and Lane’s (2008) study of incarcerated youth found that, when they were asked, ________.
    1. more than 75 per cent said that their parents were not at all responsible for their criminal behaviour
    2. more than 50 per cent said that their parents were completely involved in their lives before they were committed to a young offender facility
    3. more than 35 per cent said that their parents either always or usually knew where they were
    4. All of the above
    5. Both b and c
23. When there is full adherence to the risk-needs-responsivity (RNR) model presented by Andrews and Bonta (2010), recidivism reduces by ________.
    1. 50 per cent
    2. 30 per cent
    3. 20 per cent
    4. 45 per cent
    5. 65 per cent
24. The principles governing the group Youth Matters include which of the following?
    1. Inclusive
    2. Safe and meaningful
    3. Non-judgemental
    4. Every voice heard
    5. All of the above
25. ________ refers to the dismantling of a distinct system of criminal justice for youth and the re-merging with systems of justice for adults.
    1. Adulteration
    2. Youth justice
    3. Custodial sanctions
    4. Reintegration
    5. Convergence
26. Petrosino et al. (2013) in their meta-analysis of 29 studies that assessed the impact of juvenile justice system processing of 7,300 juvenile offenders found that low risk youth referred to a caution program were ________ to reoffend than the same low risk youth referred to an intervention program.
    1. more likely
    2. less likely
    3. equally likely
    4. No differences were found
    5. None of the above
27. Across Canada, the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) has had the effect of reducing the number of young people whom ________.
    1. have been transferred to adult court
    2. have been sentenced to probation
    3. have been granted participation in extrajudicial sanctions
    4. have been sentenced to custody
    5. have been sentenced to parole
28. Which of the following age categories was accused of crime at higher rates than any other age group?
    1. 12-17
    2. 18-24
    3. 25-30
    4. 31-35
    5. 36-40
29. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child article 12 respects which of the following?
    1. The views of the child
    2. The presumption of innocence
    3. The right to retain legal council
    4. The right to child welfare services
    5. None of the above
30. Which of the following are the main priorities of the Cannabis Act?
31. Preventing youth from accessing cannabis
32. Protecting public health and public safety
33. Eliminating the illegal cannabis market through serious criminal penalties for those operating outside the legal framework
34. None of the above
35. All of the above

True or False Questions

1. Prior to the age of majority, children and youth receive protection from the state in the form of restrictions on their freedom and investment in their development.
2. Treating a youth like an adult for the purposes of criminal responsibility is a reflection of societal values.
3. The increased criminal justice processing of youth is important for the reduction of youth crime.
4. The best interests of the child doctrine, which is a key principle of the United Nations Declara­tion on the Rights of the Child, is consistent with the increasing trend toward the adulteration of youth crime throughout the world.
5. Canada’s international obligations to all children who have committed offences support a pre­sumption that juvenile offenders are not to be treated like adults.
6. The Youth Criminal Justice Act was the first youth justice statute passed in Canada to expressly state that the criminal justice system for young persons must be separate from that of adults.
7. The Youth Criminal Justice Act is based on research that shows that incarcerating young people can do more good than harm.
8. Across Canada, the Youth Criminal Justice Act has had the effect of reducing the number of young people who have been sentenced to custody by focusing on alternatives to the formal system and reserving youth court for serious and persistent offenders.
9. Empirical evidence has shown that mental health treatment reduces subsequent detention rates among foster-care children.
10. Many youth with significant mental health issues are in the juvenile justice system for serious violent offences.
11. There is a growing and diverse body of research that has concluded that youth who are involved in the youth justice system have significantly more mental health and substance abuse problems compared to other youth.
12. Recent studies indicated that most young offenders are diagnosed as having mental health problems before they are put into some form of juvenile detention.
13. It is common that youth will have multiple risk factors that increase the chances of their becoming involved in the youth justice system.
14. Cumulative risk factors sometimes make it difficult to untangle the effects of individual risk factors on the likelihood of a youth becoming involved in the youth justice system.
15. Individual characteristics, such as boredom, frustration, and alcohol or drug misuse, are often long-term problems and not easily changed.
16. The most effective programs used with at-risk youth are delivered locally by volunteers assisted by trained staff.
17. We have sufficient evidence to date to tell us that equal effort should be made to implement treatment programs for all youth who come into the youth justice system.
18. It has been argued that the problem with current discussions about youth policy is that adult policy-makers try to imagine what young people want or what they believe they ought to want or need.
19. Recent studies have confirmed that parents are frequently responsible for the criminal behaviour of their children.
20. Youth themselves can potentially be an important source of information for informing youth policy.
21. According to the research, low risk youth referred to caution programs were more likely to reoffend as opposed to the same low risk youth that were referred to an intervention program.
22. During the years of the JDA, we saw more youths being incarcerated than under the years of the YOA.
23. Across Canada, the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) has had the effect of reducing the number of young people who have been sentenced to custody.
24. Looking at crime statistics, Allen (2016) points out that youth, aged 12 to 17 years and young adults aged 18 to 24 years, accounted for over one-third of individuals accused in the police-reported crime.
25. The UNCRC in Article 1 defines a child as “every human being below the age of 18 years unless, under the law applicable to the child, the majority is attained earlier”.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the problem with the binary system where the state focuses on the protection of children until they cross the threshold, known as the age of majority, to adulthood?
2. What is the “best interests of the child” doctrine?
3. What are the key provisions included in the United Nations Declara­tion on the Rights of the Child regarding the legal rights of children and youth?
4. What arguments have been made in support of the use of diversion as an intervention approach for young people who come in conflict with the law?
5. Why is the continued success of the Youth Criminal Justice Act vulnerable from a number of perspectives?
6. What was one of the key recommendations of the Nunn Commission?
7. Why is it wrong to infer that there is a direct causal relationship between mental health disorders and youth crime?
8. What are mental health courts?
9. What did the findings of the study carried by Skowyra and Powell (2006) suggest about the identification of mental health needs of youth held in juvenile detention?
10. Why is it often difficult to determine how best to address the needs of young people who become involved with the criminal justice system?
11. What is the basic difference between individual and situational factors linked to youth crime and delinquency? Provide examples of each.
12. What are criminogenic needs? How can they be targeted in a way that results in effective outcomes?
13. What is youth resiliency and why is this concept important in understanding the causes and prevention of youth crime and delinquency?
14. Why is it ill-advised to implement treatment programs for the majority of young people who come in contact with the youth justice system?
15. What is the Quantum Opportunities Program?
16. How has the Quantum Opportunities Program been implemented in Canada?
17. According to Bessant (2005), what is problematic about the way in which discussions about youth policy are currently formulated and played out?
18. In what direction do the chapter authors suggest we should move in order to improve on youth policy as it affects young people both within and outside of the youth justice system?
19. According to the authors of Chapter 5, what is the value of strong youth–adult partnerships?
20. What new approach marked the Juvenile Delinquents Act of 1908?
21. What does “aging out” of crime mean?

Essay Questions

1. What are the international obligations Canada has agreed to regarding the treatment of children and youth in the criminal justice system? How successful has it been to date in meeting these obligations?
2. What have studies found regarding the extent to which youth involved in the criminal justice system suffer from mental health and substance abuse problems? What are some of the approaches and theories that are being applied in the effort to help young offenders who have these problems?
3. Discuss the case of Ashley Smith in light of Skowyra and Cocozza’s (2007) Blueprint for Change: A comprehensive model for the identification and treatment of youth with mental health needs in contact with the youth justice system. Could her death have been prevented?
4. What are the characteristic features of intervention programs for at-risk youth that appear to work versus those that appear not to work?
5. Should youth be given a voice in the development of youth policy? Why?
6. What is the main goal of therapeutic jurisprudence? Explain how these programs help youth with highly complex needs.
7. What are the main differences between the JDA, the YOA and the YCJA?