Understanding Risk in the Context of the Youth Criminal Justice Act

Increasingly, risk assessments are being adopted throughout the criminal justice system in Canada, and they are playing a significant role in the preparation of pre-sentence reports. Over the past five years, nine of Canada's jurisdictions have adopted the use of risk assessments for the preparation of youth pre-sentencing reports (PSR). While ample theoretical knowledge about risk exists, there are noticeably fewer empirical studies of how risk frameworks (re)shape and (re)organize local institutional decision-making practices or of what the socio-political effects of these processes are. Drawing on interviews, case law review, and analyses of risk-assessment documents, this article considers the implications of using risk assessments in the preparation of youth pre-sentencing reports (PSRs). In particular, attention is paid to the tensions between emerging risk practices and the emphasis on proportional sentencing under the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA).