Derek Neary
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 25/98) - The federal minister of justice's proposed new strategy to deal with young offenders is being welcomed by the NWT Department of Justice.

Anne McLellan's proposals stress prevention, alternative sentencing and harsher sentences for violent and repeat young offenders.

"The concentration on prevention is, in fact, something that we need desperately," said John Dillon, director of corrections.

McLellan is advocating a full range of community-based sentences for non-violent young offenders to foster respect, emphasize responsibility for harm done to the victim and enable the offender to see the consequences of their actions.

Robert Hay, director of policy and planning with the NWT Department of Justice, said that the Northwest Territories has been a forerunner when it comes to community-based sentences.

"We've been encouraging this kind of approach for years," Hay said. "We have very active youth justice committees in many communities. I think this will reinforce the direction we're already moving in."

Such initiatives allow the community to become involved in addressing the accountability of young offenders and determining punishment, Hay noted.

Among the other specific initiatives that McLellan is proposing are:

• Expanding the list of offences for which a young offender would be liable to be tried as an adult, particularly violent offences. As well, the age limit for related sentencing would be lowered from 16 to 14.

• Permitting the publication of names of young offenders convicted in adult court.

• Intensive rehabilitation and treatment programs and extended periods of controlled supervision in the community once released for the most violent, high-risk young offenders.

Although he commended the work done by corrections staff, Dillon said more young offenders need to stay closer to home.

"We are taking our children away their homes, their families, their schools, from everything they know and putting them in a punitive place far away. This is not how one rehabilitates people ... this is a sure recipe for alienation, for resentment, for misunderstanding," Dillon said.