Hay River Youth Disposition Panel: Perceptions and Experiences of Participants

Regions: South Slave Region

Tags: social sciences, social support, youth, offenders, legal system

Principal Investigator: Katz, Helena (1)
Licence Number: 13495
Organization: University of Montreal
Licensed Year(s): 2003
Issued: Jul 09, 2003
Project Team: Dr. Mylene

Objective(s): In cases in which young offenders plead guilty, the youth court in Hay River convenes a Youth Disposition Panel of teens from Diamond Jenness Secondary School to offer the judge a sentencing recommendation based on the case. It is based on the power of peer pressure being more effective than that of an adult. This project seeks to understand what motivates youth to participate in peer sentencing, their experience and point of view of participating in the process and the impact. The panel's operation is unique to the North and has never been studied. The researcher would like to find out to what extent its operation is beneficial to participants and whether it would be possible to implement similar programs in other communities in Canada. Permission to include interviews with young offenders as part of this study is pending. Before such interviews are to proceed, the principal investigator must obtain permission from Corrections Services and follow the protocols that they outline.