The Youth Criminal Justice Act prevents us from identifying any of the 15 youths who have been paraded through Athabasca Provincial Court recently, pleading guilty to break-and-enter and mischief charges that resulted from their lengthy crime spree around the Athabasca area earlier this spring.
Being that this is a small community, chances are good that if we were able to print their names, readers might recognize some of them and say to themselves, “Oh, that’s so-and-so’s kid.”
They might even feel inspired to talk to so-and-so about their parenting skills.
Consider what we know from the evidence presented in court thus far: on close to 10 separate occasions over the course of a few months, members of this gaggle of youth (calling them a ‘gang’ would pay them an undue compliment) would gather in smaller groups of usually five or less and commit essentially pointless crimes. Rarely was there any monetary gain from their actions.
In some cases, their actions and association was specifically prohibited by existing court orders.
So the obvious question becomes, why didn’t the parents of these youths — especially those who were already subject to probation orders — have more control over what they were doing, and with whom?
To be fair, some parents have a harder time than others. If some of them need additional support in dealing with their kids, the opportunity to access help through the appropriate agencies should be afforded to them.
But when these youths come before a judge for sentencing in a few months, hopefully the court will have some words to share with the parents, too.
