After Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s pledge to get tougher on young offenders, the IWK Health Centre is taking the rare step of wading into the political arena.
Ruth Carter, the children’s hospital’s director of child and youth forensics services, says releasing the names of 14-year-old offenders and handing children life sentences will do more harm than good.
“It’s rehabilitation of the young people that we’re really concerned about,” she said.
If re-elected, Harper says the Tories will change the law to allow the names of violent offenders older than age 14 to be released.
Carter said there is no scientific evidence that “naming and shaming” young people will lead to less crime. Naming a young offender gives the public a false sense of security that they’ll be safe.
More jail isn’t the answer either, Carter says, since locking youth up with other violent offenders can actually make things worse — criminals end up becoming their friends and role models.
