National statistics show youth crime has been declining slowly in recent years. But Justice minister Allan Rock is under intense public pressure to make the act tougher. A number of high-profile cases, like the teens who recently killed a man in Vancouver, have created the impression youth crime is escalating. Some of this violence is happening on school property, like the recent fights at Porter Creek Junior Secondary. But violence in schoolyards is nothing new.
Children spend most of the day at school so, if they break the law, it often happens there.
When Edmonton principal Lou Yaniw came to Whitehorse for a conference on school violence, he said schools were turning into virtual war zones. Some local parents feel the same way. The mother of a recent Porter Creek fight victim said she was afraid to send her daughter back to school. One girl, who loves school now, said she was afraid for her safety when she entered Grade 7. And, in the recent A Capella report, teenage girls in the Yukon talked about drug dealing, sexual harassment and fear in their schools.