Introduction

McCreary Centre Society was commissioned by the Youth and Indigenous Justice Division at the Department of Justice Canada to conduct interviews with a diverse sample of young people who have experienced first-hand the Canadian criminal justice system. The purpose of the project was to better understand the specific needs and challenges facing emerging adults (18–25 years) within the criminal justice system.

Young people were asked to identify the main challenges emerging adults face when interacting with the Canadian justice system, and to provide their suggested solutions to overcome these challenges. The project also aimed to consider the specific needs of young adults who identified as female, Indigenous, racialized, suffering from health conditions or disabilities (including mental illness), from rural communities and who had a history of child welfare involvement.

The project took place in British Columbia and was approved by the BC Government Ministry of Children and Family Development ethics committee. Interviews were conducted over the phone, online or in-person. Each interview followed a semi-structured script (See Appendix), and was conducted in line with best practice in trauma-informed interviewing. Each interview lasted between 20 and 120 minutes.

Before each interview, participants were informed of their rights as research participants and of the voluntary and anonymous nature of the project. Participants were asked if they had any questions before being asked whether they consented to participate. They were then reminded that they could skip questions they did not want to answer and could end the interview at any time.

Objectives

The key question the project sought to answer was: What are the main challenges that emerging adults face, and what are their specific needs, when interacting with the Canadian justice system?

This question was broken down further into these more specific sub-questions:

Participants

A total of 47 young people participated in this project. Twenty-seven were between the ages of 18 and 25; seven were aged 16 or 17, and 13 were in their late 20’s. Of the 47 participants in the study, 11 identified as female, 21 were Indigenous, 13 identified as another racialized group, 5 were a sexual minority (with most of these identifying as bisexual), and 20 had experience of government care (other than a youth custody centre).

Participants’ experience with the justice system varied. For example, 30 had served a custodial sentence in an adult facility; 24 had served a custodial sentence in a youth custody facility; and 13 had served a custodial sentence in both a youth and an adult facility. Quotes from young people who participated in this project are included throughout the report.

In this report, the terms young adults and emerging adults are used to refer specifically to young people aged 18–25. The term young people is used to refer to all participants in the project who ranged in age from 16–29.

Limitations

Many participants in this project noted that the challenges facing young adults in the justice system are often broader than can be addressed by the criminal justice system alone. They articulated the need to improve supports to children and youth who may be at risk of entering the justice system. By taking an upstream approach which ensured ‘at-risk’ children and youth had access to meaningful activities, supportive adults, and healthy role models, the likelihood of young adults having contact with the justice system would be reduced. Similarly, early support for mental health and substance use challenges could assist young people to avoid later interactions with the justice system. The validity of these comments is fully acknowledged. However, this report is limited in focus to addressing what may be needed once a young person has contact with the criminal justice system.

A second limitation of the project was that interviews with young adults who were currently incarcerated had to be limited to the length of time they were permitted to use the institution’s phone. Calls with incarcerated young adults were also sometimes abruptly ended or postponed due to the institution going into lockdown.

A third limitation was that despite five participants in this project identifying as a sexual minority, none chose to discuss challenges and possible solutions for sexual minority young adults within the criminal justice system. It is unknown if this was due to a concern about confidentiality (for example, if the participant was calling from a custody centre) or for other reasons.

The final limitation of note was that due to the timing of the project (Fall 2022), many young people may have been recalling experiences that occurred during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when public health restrictions were at their strictest. For example, this may have influenced their perception of available programing within the justice system.

Despite the limitations of the project, young people appeared to be genuinely interested in participating, openly discussed their experiences, and provided their insights and perspectives on changes that might be needed.

“Thank you for asking for our voices, our opinions. I just want to make [adult correctional centres] better for the next generation. I want to do my part to make it what I needed.”