B.C.sa国际传媒檚 representative for children and youth says the province has a sa国际传媒済olden opportunitysa国际传媒� to improve services for those in the criminal justice system as youth in custody rates have continued to drop over the last two decades.

The latest report from Jennifer Charlesworthsa国际传媒檚 office reveals a sa国际传媒済ross under-utilization of scarce resourcessa国际传媒� from the Children and Family Development Ministry, despite the number of youth committing crimes and being sentenced dropping dramatically. The report was released Thursday (Jan. 25).

Charlesworth said youth crime rates sa国际传媒� including those involving Indigenous youth sa国际传媒� have been declining the past 20 years, but Indigenous youth are still over-represented. In 1997-98, there was an average of 93 Indigenous youth in custody each day, but in the last year it had dropped to eight.

On average in the last fiscal year, Charlesworth said there were only 15 youth in custody at the Prince George and Burnaby custody centres. Some days there were no youth in custody in Prince George.

She said there was a sa国际传媒渞elatively continuoussa国际传媒� drop from more than 4,000 cases in 2000-2001, to around 800 in the last fiscal year sa国际传媒� less than half of what it was 10 years ago.

While this is sa国际传媒渆specially welcome news amid the concerns wesa国际传媒檝e seen more generally about street crime and random violence,sa国际传媒� she added itsa国际传媒檚 now leading to an excess of resources being directed to an area that no longer needs them.

Since 2002, with the declining rate of youth in custody, five centres have been closed in B.C., including a facility in Victoria in 2014. Custody services for girls were centralized in Burnaby in 2012.

In 2022-23, the number of managers in the two youth custody centres sa国际传媒� Prince George and Burnaby sa国际传媒� was more than double the average youth, and the number of teachers funded and allocated was nearly the same as the average number of youth.

Charlesworth said there is an sa国际传媒渆xtraordinary amount of unused capacity and wasted resourcessa国际传媒� when it comes to staffing. There was nearly 11 staff members for every youth in custody.

The Prince George facility has been operating at about $2.51 million per year, while the Burnaby centre is about $1.2 million a year. The cost per occupied bed in Prince George was nearly $7,000 a day.

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More recently, the province announced it would be closing the Prince George custody centre by March, 2024. Charlesworth said that decision was announced after it shared a preliminary draft of this report with Children and Family Development Ministry, but was done without the consultation of First Nations organizations or her office.

sa国际传媒淭he decision has been made without a plan in place for the reallocation of resources.sa国际传媒�

Charlesworth said a major concern is that in the few cases where a young person in northern B.C. must be in custody, they will now be far away from their families and communities.

She said shesa国际传媒檚 been told the ministry is planning a holding unit in Prince George for youth needing to go to Burnaby, but Charlesworth is calling for a further step of retaining a six-bed temporary detention or open-custody unit that for short sentences.

sa国际传媒淭o do that the province can set aside reallocated funds from to provide intensive individually tailored services for for youth from the northern areas who would otherwise likely be committed to custody

The representative was clear that she wasnsa国际传媒檛 suggesting a cut in funding and services for children and youth, but instead wants a redeployment of excess capacity in the youth justice system to other areas that are sa国际传媒渄esperately wanting.sa国际传媒�

sa国际传媒淭heresa国际传媒檚 no shortage of those.sa国际传媒�

The reportsa国际传媒檚 recommendations include conducting a comprehensive review youth custody, community youth justice and Youth Forensic Psychiatric Services resources, while also coming up with a plan for more efficient and effective use of resources.

The representative is calling for engagement and consultation to be completed by Oct. 31, 2024 and a detailed reallocation plan completed by March 31, 2025.