Exam Questions Juvenile & Restorative Justice BC Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

Juvenile Justice and Restorative Justice in British Columbia: Learning through the Lens of Community Praxis

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Taking Responsibility, a 1988 report authored by a House of Commons Justice Committee chaired by ________, recommended the use and evaluation of restorative justice in Canada.
   1. Bagley
   2. Daubney
   3. Archambault
   4. Dickson
   5. Massey
2. Which of the following is not one of the restorative justice values that may be seen to underlie the Youth Criminal Justice Act?
   1. Communities and families should work in partnership through multidisciplinary approaches to address crime prevention.
   2. Information regarding youth justice, crime, and measures taken to address youth crime should not be made publicly available.
   3. The youth criminal justice system should command respect, and take into account the inter­ests of victims.
   4. The youth justice system should foster responsibility and ensure accountability through meaningful consequences and effective rehabilitation and reintegration.
   5. All of the above are restorative justice values that underlie the YCJA
3. The Youth Criminal Justice Act emphasizes that measures taken against young persons should ________.
   1. reinforce respect for societal values
   2. involve the parents, the extended family, and the community
   3. respect gender, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic differences
   4. All of the above
   5. Both a and c
4. Under Section 5, the YCJA directs (in part) that extrajudicial measures must ________.
   1. encourage acknowledgement and reparation of harm to the victim and community
   2. encourage families, including extended families, of young persons, and the community to become involved in the design and implementation of those measures
   3. provide an opportunity for victims to participate in decisions related to the measures selected and to receive reparation
   4. All of the above
   5. Both a and c
5. Conferences authorized by the YCJA make take the form of ________.
   1. family group conferencing
   2. sentencing circles
   3. community accountability panels
   4. All of the above
   5. Both a and b
6. The restorative justice movement in Canada can be traced to a landmark juvenile justice case that occurred in ________.
   1. Sackville, Nova Scotia
   2. Carleton, New Brunswick
   3. Elmira, Ontario
   4. St. Laurent, Manitoba
   5. Gatineau, Quebec
7. The first victim–offender reconciliation program (VORP) in Canada became known as the ________.
   1. Sackville Experiment
   2. Kitchener Experiment
   3. Carleton Experiment
   4. St. Laurent Experiment
   5. Gatineau Experiment
8. In 1998, a survey administered by the Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking at the University of Minnesota estimated that about ________ programs existed in the United States.
   1. 300
   2. 500
   3. 700
   4. 900
   5. 1,200
9. The use of sentencing circles was supported by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1999 in the case of ________.
   1. R. v. Moses
   2. R. v. Gladue
   3. R. v. Lavallee
   4. R. v. Drybones
   5. R v. Gladstone
10. Peacemaking circles, as distinct from sentencing circles, ________.
    1. are facilitated or co-facilitated by judges
    2. are facilitated by elders and community members
    3. are co-shared by provincial and municipal governments
    4. are co-shared by Indigenous and federal governments
    5. are facilitated by local police
11. The most rigorous evaluations of sen­tencing circles to date have been conducted in ________.
    1. British Columbia
    2. New South Wales
    3. Queensland
    4. New Zealand
    5. Northwest Territories
12. The purpose of family group conferences is ________.
    1. to build understanding of the consequences of the crime
    2. to allow young offenders to hear the full impact of the crime
    3. to develop a reparative plan
    4. All of the above
    5. Both b and c
13. The British Columbia Ministry of Child and Family Development started to use family group conferencing ________.
    1. in the late-1990s when they were introduced from Australia
    2. before the enactment of the YCJA in 2001
    3. after the implementation of the YCJA in 2003
    4. only within the last five years
    5. in early 2012
14. The most rigorous testing of family group conferencing has been done in ________.
    1. Canada and England
    2. Australia and England
    3. England and the United States
    4. New Zealand and Canada
    5. Australia and Canada
15. A randomized control study of family group conferencing showed that ________.
    1. it is more effective with more, rather than less, serious crimes
    2. victims benefit through increased satisfaction in the outcome and feelings of safety, and decreased likelihood of revenge
    3. victims are more likely to receive an apology and reduce their post-traumatic stress symptoms
    4. All of the above
    5. Both b and c
16. Most of the community-based restorative justice programs that operate in British Columbia ________.
    1. take police diversion cases for first-time offenders
    2. take referrals from Crown counsel
    3. do not take referrals from schools and the community at large
    4. All of the above
    5. Both a and b
17. It has been argued that community-based restorative justice programs in British Columbia ________.
    1. still occupy a marginal position in the youth justice system
    2. are in danger of them being co-opted and diluted by the pull of retributive and punitive practices
    3. have not been rigorously evaluated
    4. All of the above
    5. Both a and c
18. The key mission of the community-based organization called ROCA that exists in Chelsea, Massachusetts is to ________.
    1. implement youth crime prevention programs
    2. help young people move out of violence and poverty
    3. provide family counselling and parent training programs
    4. promote VORP and family group conferencing
    5. provide legal services to young offenders
19. As a community-based organization, ROCA seeks to ________.
    1. increase institutions’ ability to understand and be more responsive to youth needs
    2. make institutions more accountable for the services they provide
    3. help institutions understand the impact they have on young people’s lives
    4. All of the above
    5. both a and c
20. The Blue Ribbon Panel is ________.
    1. a justice reform initiative launched by the BC government
    2. a group of experts studying crime reduction
    3. a province wide plan for diversion, including restorative justice
    4. All of the above
    5. both a and b
21. Taking Responsibility is ________.
    1. a committee that produced Cutting Crime: Case for Justice Reinvestment
    2. a paper that covers youth justice and puts forward new policy recommendations
    3. a response to concerns raised in the House of Commons by England’s Justice Committee
    4. recognizing the importance of community engagement through neighbourhoods
    5. both a and c
22. The focus of restorative justice is on what ________.
    1. needs to be healed
    2. needs to be repaired
    3. needs to be learned
    4. none of the above
    5. All of the above
23. Indigenous youth represent about 8 per cent of the Canadian youth population but they represent approximately ________ per cent of the correctional population.
    1. 16
    2. 20
    3. 36
    4. 46
    5. 70
24. Following provincial and territorial consultation, a federal report, Transforming Canada’s Criminal Justice System (2018), suggested all except for which of the following?
    1. Integrate restorative justice into the mainstream justice system
    2. Inform and educate the public about restorative justice
    3. Apply restorative justice earlier and to more serious cases
    4. Increase the use of police arrest as a deterrent
    5. Fund and administer restorative justice initiatives well and use data to track results
25. A recent evaluation in Alameda County, California, of a community based restorative justice program found restorative justice ________.
    1. reduced recidivism
    2. reduced costs
    3. reduced court pressure
    4. increased victim satisfaction
    5. All of the above

True or False Questions

1. Restorative justice remains at the margins of the justice system in Canada compared to develop­ments in other countries.
2. The YJCA opens the door to the development of initiatives generally associated with restorative justice.
3. With the implementation of the requirement in the YCJA that extrajudicial measures, including restorative justice initiatives, be considered, there has been a decline in young persons charged by police.
4. The YCJA makes the use of these extrajudicial measures mandatory in cases where restorative justice is deemed appropriate.
5. Data collected by Fraser Valley Community Justice Initiatives (FVCJI) between 2002 and 2004 on the use of VORPS involving young offenders provided remarkable evidence of VORP’s effective in making youth accountable to the community.
6. Because of its proven success, the use of VORP’s with young offenders was expanded in British Columbia after 2004.
7. There has been little effort made in Canada to collect systemic data on the use of VORPs across the country.
8. The influence of VORP has been restricted to North America.
9. The sentencing circle itself is not a traditional practice of Indigenous peoples in Canada.
10. The use of sentencing circles facilitated or co-facilitated by judges was adopted in British Col­umbia in 2002.
11. A randomized control study of family group conferencing showed that victims benefit through increased satisfaction in the outcome and feelings of safety, and decreased likelihood of revenge.
12. In British Columbia, the provincial government Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General is responsible for implementing restorative justice programs.
13. According to recent estimates, in Australia only between 2 and 4 per cent of police interventions involving young people result in a referral to a youth justice conference.
14. According to the Australian criminologists Cunneen and Hoyle, restorative justice has failed indigenous youth in Australia.
15. ROCA is an organization based in Chelsea, England, that has led in the development of a complementary institutions strategy.
16. In the past two decades, more than 15,000 teens and young adults have been served by Roca’s high-risk youth intervention model.
17. According to the criminologist Nils Christie, lawyers have a trained capacity to let parties decide for themselves what they think is relevant.
18. In its report on Cutting Crime: A Case for Justice Reinvestment, England’s House of Commons Justice Committee (2009) recommended the expansion of circle sentencing and family group conferencing.
19. According to the chapter authors, in recent years England, through engagement with a range of stakeholders, has turned a new page in actively promoting the use of restorative justice programs.
20. Canada’s role in the development of restorative justice is as an exporter. We invent it, and others develop and implement it.
21. Restorative justice is a justice that puts its energy into the future, not into what is past.
22. peacemaking circles are a process that brings together individuals who wish to engage in conflict resolution, healing, support, decision making or provide a space to acknowledge responsibility for one’s behaviour

Short Answer Questions

1. What were the recommendations contained in the report entitled Taking Responsibility, authored by a House of Commons Justice Committee in the 1980s?
2. What are victim–offender reconciliation programs?
3. Identify and discuss two general principles in the Youth Criminal Justice Act that reflect restorative justice values?
4. Conferences authorized by the Youth Criminal Justice Act can take many different forms. List three of these.
5. What are sentencing circles?
6. How was the first victim–offender reconciliation program (VORP) established in British Columbia, and how did it initially expand?
7. How does a typical sentencing circle work in an Indigenous community?
8. What are the three guiding premises of traditional practice that underlie the way in which sentencing circles are conducted?
9. What are peacemaking circles?
10. What have been the major findings and conclusions of evaluations carried out in New South Wales on sentencing circles?
11. How was family group conferencing (FGC) originally introduced in the youth justice system of New Zealand?
12. What is one of the criticisms regarding how family group conferencing has been integrated into the youth justice system of New Zealand?
13. How has family group conferencing (FGC) been implemented in British Columbia by the provincial Ministry of Child and Family Development (MCFD)?
14. What do the chapter authors conclude about the state of community-based restorative justice programs in British Columbia?
15. What are the key criticisms of restorative justice advanced by the Australian criminologists Cunneen and Hoyle?
16. What do the chapter authors argue is one of the major obstacles to the development of restorative justice programs in the youth justice system in British Columbia?
17. What is ROCA?
18. What are the key assumptions underlying ROCA’s engaged institutions (EI) strategy?
19. What is the importance of NGOs in regards to restorative justice?
20. Discuss the main components of the Nova Scotia Restorative Justice (NSRJ) program.

Essay Questions

1. Outline and discuss the restorative justice values that may be seen to underlie the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
2. Distinguish between sentencing circles and peacemaking circles and discuss the development and use of each of these in Canada and in other countries.
3. What is family group conferencing? Discuss the manner in which it developed first in New Zealand, and later in Australia and Canada.
4. How were restorative-justice based community accountability programs put into place in British Columbia? Where were they implemented in British Columbia and what is known about these programs are currently operating in different communities in the province?
5. What is ROCA, and why do the chapter authors view it as a model type of organization that could be used as a foundation for building more effective programs aimed at assisting disengaged and disenfranchised young people involved in the criminal justice system?
6. What did Taking Responsibility contribute to youth justice in Canada?