VIC'S VERY BAD IDEA

Judges across the country must be shaking their heads in dismay over
Justice Minister Vic Toews's proposal that courts deal with troubled
kids under age 12.

Yes, that's just what our courts need - responsibility for a pile of
hell-raising kidlets on top of the bottleneck of cases already
choking the justice system.

Children under 12 can't be charged under the Youth Criminal Justice
Act. Since 1984, it has been accepted that young kids should not be
deemed criminally responsible for their actions.

But Toews opened up a can of worms Monday when he suggested that
children under 12 who have broken the law should fall under the Youth
Criminal Justice Act.

"There doesn't necessarily have to be a charge, but there has to be
some kind of mechanism that you can bring the child into the context
of the court," he said.

"We need to give courts jurisdiction to intervene in the lives of
these young people."

It's all very confusing. The police wouldn't necessarily have to
charge children under 12 but judges would be expected to deal with
these young ruffians anyway?

I can hardly wait to see the convoluted piece of legislation Toews
dreams up to give judges power over kids who haven't actually been
charged with an offence.

And even if judges did have the jurisdiction, time or inclination to
wag their fingers at 10- or 11-year-old troublemakers, what are they
going to do? Get the children into counselling or other treatment, of
course, which is precisely what police and child-welfare officials
already try to do.

Toews complained that the child-welfare system isn't doing a good
enough job of reforming young delinquents.

That may be true, but the solution is for the federal and provincial
governments to increase funding for social services - not to haul a
gaggle of guttersnipes into court.

Judges routinely send untold numbers of accused and convicted
criminals for psychiatric assessments and counselling and the backlog
is enormous.

Alberta doesn't just need tradespeople. It needs social workers and
psychiatrists, too. The Capital Health Authority is short 10 child
psychiatrists, for instance.

And poor families can't always afford therapy for their kids, since
psychological services aren't covered by medicare unless the children
are in state care.

The Psychologists' Association of Alberta has lobbied the province
for a psychological aid program akin to legal aid, so far to no
avail, says association executive director Pierre Berube.

"We're working on it but it's certainly not going to be a quick
thing," he says.

"I think government definitely should be involved to fund
psychological services for people who can't afford it."

There are agencies that provide counselling to poor families on a
sliding fee scale and many psychologists are doing pro bono work, says Berube.

"But they can only do so much of that," he says.

"There is no established system that if you're not a child-welfare
case ... our services are available at reasonable cost."

Toews softened his remarks somewhat in a letter to the editor in the
National Post yesterday, saying that kids under 12 who break the law
need effective intervention and treatment. Of course they do.

But he reiterated his suggestion that the courts get involved with
these children. Bad idea. We don't whip bad kids anymore. Nor should
we lower the age at which children fall under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

As Ottawa lawyer Lawrence Greenspon pointed out the other day, we
need more money for social services instead.

It's also worth keeping in mind that youth crime has been dropping.
So Toews should stop pretending the sky is falling.