PRAISING POLICE DISCRETION

The courts do not have the resources to deal with every mischievous
teenager, and not every mischievous teenager will benefit from a day
in court. So it's appropriate that police have the flexibility to fill
in where the formal justice system cannot.

Statistics Canada recently released a study, "Prior Police Contacts
and Police Discretion with Apprehended Youth," which is part of a
larger research project about youth justice. The researchers wanted to
find out what leads police to treat a young offender informally --
with a warning, say, or a referral to a community program, or a call
home to the parents.

They discovered that, more often than not, police are letting young
people off without a charge when apprehended for their first (minor)
crime. The probability that a youth with no prior contact with police
would be charged was 32 per cent, but rose to 63 per cent after five
or more contacts. Prior police contact wasn't the only factor in
police decisions, although it was the strongest. Other factors were
the seriousness of the crime and age of the youth.

This study indicates that police enjoy a certain discretion. Police
officers of the 21st century are not only enforcers of the law, but in
some cases akin to a judge and jury. Are police qualified to make
these decisions? Undoubtedly they have biases, but biases that are the
product of experience. They know the difference between a kid testing
the boundaries and a kid heading down a criminal path.

Police discretion is integral to Canada's justice system. Without it,
the already overburdened courts would be so swamped with cases they'd
cease to function. Many jails, particularly in Ontario, are at the
limit of their capacity.

The tradition of informal punishment seems unlikely to put society in
any danger. The stern face of a police officer or the disappointed
face of a parent is often enough to instill the appropriate fear of
authority, whereas throwing the book at a young person for one mistake
can create a criminal out of an otherwise law-abiding teenager. As for
major crimes, Canadians can rest assured that, as the study indicated,
young people do get charged.

Canada's new Youth Criminal Justice Act encourages alternatives to the
court system. The rate of youths charged seems to be declining,
probably as a result of the new legislation. Statistics Canada says
84,000 people between 12 and 17 were charged in 2003, but 100,000 were
"cleared otherwise." That means that despite a slight rise in youth
crime last year, the rate of youth charges dropped 15 per cent.

This trend toward fewer charges should continue, as the police
continue their good work.