YOUTH CRIME 'DISTURBING': RCMP

Recent Murders Shock N.B. Communities

When a murder is committed in a small town in a province the size of
New Brunswick, it creates shock waves that ripple far and wide.

Nearby neighbours and observers around the province are even more so
disturbed when young people are arrested in relation to such violent crimes.

That has been the case several times in the past weeks and months, as
police pressed murder charges just this week against a 15-year-old
female in Demascus, and a 17-year-old male was charged with attempted
murder at a residence in Notre-Dame.

Police have also charged Daniel Steven Dion, 19, with murder in the
death of Layne McDonald in Shediac earlier this year, and a
17-year-old man was charged with aggravated assault causing second
degree murder in the death of Nathaniel McFadden in Pointe-du-Chene in January.

"It is obviously disturbing when you have 15 and 16 and 17 year olds
involved," said RCMP Sgt. Claude Tremblay.

Although guns were used in several of those crimes, Tremblay said
police have not noticed any specific trends in terms of more guns
being found in the hands of young people, but that doesn't
necessarily offer much consolation.

"Violence is violence, whether you use a baseball bat, a knife or a
gun, at the end often the results are the same," he said.

According to the most recent numbers compiled by Statistics Canada,
violent crimes among Canadian young people aged 12 to 17 climbed by
three per cent in 2006.

But although violence among young people is growing, Tremblay says
there is no evidence that these crimes are being committed in a
random fashion. In fact, he said most of the violence is linked to
the drug trade.

"But the murders seem to be targeted at one (specific) person, it's
not like it is someone coming to a random town or village to kill
someone," said Tremblay.

"As far as the public goes, we want to make sure they know their
community was not targeted, one person in that community was targeted only."

And the despite laws protecting the identities of youths charged with
crimes, Tremblay said the perpetrators of violence rarely remain
anonymous no matter their age.

"We are not Montreal or Calgary or Vancouver where a person can get
lost in the crowd," said Tremblay.

"If you cause such a thing as a murder in a community of 1,500 or
2,000, even though the name is not released in court, I am pretty
sure the community knows who did what." Tremblay said the number of
violent crimes committed by young people doesn't seem to be any
higher than average this year.

"As far as numbers go we aren't out of line from previous years,"
said Tremblay, noting that the single murder in New Brunswick last
year was an exceptionally low number.

Tremblay said another disturbing common thread that has emerged is
the relationship between these attacks and the drug trade.

"It just tells you very well what it leads to when youth that get
involved in criminality with drugs," said Tremblay.

"One thing leads to the other, and this is how far it can get."

Statistics Canada analyst Andrea Taylor-Butts confirmed that drug
related crimes and violent crimes are moving in the same direction
across Canada.

"Youth drug crimes we saw quite a large increase nationally. Over the
last 10-year period, we saw drug crimes have nearly doubled," she said.

"We saw similar increase in drug use crimes in New Brunswick."

Taylor-Butts said the rate of youth drug crime in New Brunswick is
somewhat lower than the national average at 489 offences per 100,000
residents between the ages of 12 and 17, compared to 639 at the national level.

She said the number of cocaine related offenses increased by 200 per
cent in 2006, compared to 26 per cent at the national level.

However, she said cocaine related offences accounted for a relatively
small number of drug related offenses.

Overall, Taylor-Butts said the number of violent crimes committed by
young people has been on the rise across Canada over the past decade.

"Over the last decade, violent crimes among youth has increased 12
per cent, and most of this increase is due to the increase in
assaults, which is the most prevalent crime among youth committing
violent crimes."