The youth violence debate is not new but it seems like it has a new intensity today. The Young Offenders Act is currently being reviewed. A Commons committee will tour the country to hear what the public thinks about it.
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.