Abstract:
In order for young people to meaningfully participate in the criminal justice system they
must possess an understanding of their rights and legal procedures. To examine their
understanding, 50 young people between the ages of 13-17 who received an extrajudicial
sanction or were sentenced to probation, were recruited from the Finch Courthouse in
Toronto, Ontario. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants regarding
their understanding of their due process rights and their rights under the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child. Youth who indicated involvement in plea
bargaining were also asked about their experiences during this procedure. In addition, the
present study examined youths' perceptions of power differences in their interactions
with criminal justice officials working within an institution that has tremendous control
over offenders' lives. The results indicate that while youth seem to have some
understanding oftheir rights and legal procedures, they nevertheless feel ill-equipped to
invoke their rights in an adult-led criminal justice system. Furthermore, while past
literature has often conceptualized youth understanding based on age (e.g., Crawford &
Bull, 2006) the findings of the present study demonstrate that while age plays some role,
the lack of power experienced by youth vis-a-vis adults, and specifically criminal justice
professionals, has the most bearing on the inability of youth to exercise their rights.
