Congratulations to Juliana Babic on her successful MA defence

Congratulations to Juliana Babic for successfully defending her MA thesis, "Unraveling the Youth Criminal Justice Act: Analyzing Underreporting in Youth Crime Statistics from the General Social Survey."

Abstract

The implementation of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) in 2003 aimed to transform the youth criminal justice system by emphasizing diversion and rehabilitation over punitive measures. This legislative change has led to an observed decline in rates of youth incarceration and officially recorded youth crime. However, to date, no research has examined the impact of the YCJA on the likelihood of Canadians reporting youth crime. Utilizing data from the Canadian General Social Survey (GSS) from 1999 to 2014, logistic regression models were employed to address the following research questions:

1. Has reporting of victimization by young offenders changed over time since the YCJA? and
2. Has there been changes in the reasons for not reporting since the YCJA that are related to perceived police ineffectiveness?

Key findings indicate that reporting rates did not significantly change after the introduction of the YCJA, as there were no differences in the odds of reporting crimes before and after the implementation of the act. However, the current study identified various other significant predictors that impact an individual's likelihood of reporting a violent offence. These findings underscore the complexity of reporting behaviours and contribute to the youth crime literature.