TURNING YOUTH AROUND COULD START WITH TREATING ADDICTION

For those who might doubt the "youth of today" new numbers suggest
young people can -- and do -- learn from their mistakes.

Study results released by Statistics Canada suggest the majority of
young people who have contact with youth or adult criminal courts
face the spectre of the bench only once.

The study looked at court referrals, following the criminal paths of
59,000 young people over a 10-year period (from age 12 to 21 years).

It suggested that 55 per cent of the young people who found
themselves in court never came back during the study period.

It also found that only 16 per cent of those who ended up in court
were chronic offenders, who had five or more incidents. But that
small group accounted for close to 60 per cent of all court referrals
in the group.

It also found that the younger a person was when he or she came to
court, the more likely that person would re-offend.

In other words, most young Canadians who end up in court don't go on
to lead a life of rampant criminal behaviour; the majority of cases
result from the actions of a relative few who keep returning.

The study, a joint project of the University of Waterloo and the
Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics at StatsCan, included data
from six provinces including P.E.I.

StatsCan notes little of this type of research has been done in
Canada, but the results tend to back up similar findings in other
countries, such as England and the United States.

The numbers do well to dispel the myth that young people in court
largely continue their criminal ways.

But the really difficult part now is addressing the problems that
lead young people to court in the first place.

Like many worthwhile studies, this one raises even more questions.

One of the most important, of course, is why those 55 per cent of
young people did not end up in court again. What or who kept them
from another such brush with the formal justice system?

Conversely, what is it about the chronic offenders that causes them
to repeat their illegal behaviour?

Obviously, more research could help point to the prevalence of
certain factors, but some are already quite clear.

Over the past couple of years in Summerside and area, drug addiction
would seem to be an obvious one to address.

Legal aid lawyer Trish Cheverie, for example, has raised the issue of
drug addiction while representing her clients in the courtroom on
numerous occasions. Outside the court, she's spoken about addiction
issues -- and the increased caseload she's seen as a result -- to
local groups. The East Prince Women's Information Centre, police and
others too have been helping to raise the issue of prescription drug abuse.

The current series in The Journal-Pioneer on drug addiction has
pointed to the tendency of addiction and crime to go hand in hand,
and to the lack of adequate services for those affected.

If we are not only to ponder these latest numbers -- but do something
about them -- giving higher priority to the illness that is drug
addiction would be a good start.