Summary
"The Youth Justice Initiative (YJI) is a multi-faceted approach to youth justice designed to create
a fairer, more effective youth justice system. The three funding components of the YJI are the
Youth Justice Services Funding Program (YJSFP); the Intensive Rehabilitative Custody and
Supervision (IRCS) Program; and the Youth Justice Fund (YJF). The purpose of the YJSFP is to
support the provinces and territories in providing a range of youth justice services and programs
consistent with federal policy objectives. The IRCS Program provides funding to the provinces
and territories to support the specialized services required for the administration of the sentence
of intensive rehabilitative custody and supervision and other sentences applicable to serious
violent youth with mental health issues. The YJF provides grants and contributions to a variety
of organizations to respond to emerging youth justice issues, enable greater community
participation in the youth justice system, and test innovative approaches to youth justice
programming. The evaluation of the YJI funding components was conducted in fiscal years
2009-2010 and 2010-2011. The evaluation examined issues of relevance, design and
implementation, effectiveness, and economy and efficiency. It covers the fiscal years 2005-2006
to 2008-2009."--Page i.
Contents
1. Introduction -- 1.1. Purpose of the evaluation -- 1.2. Structure of the report -- 2. The Youth Justice Initiative funding components -- 2.1. Youth Justice Services Funding Program -- 2.2. Intensive Rehabilitative Custody and Supervision Program -- 2.3. Youth Justice Fund -- 3. Evaluation methodology -- 3.1. Document review -- 3.2. Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics data and review of literature -- 3.3. Key informant interviews -- 3.4. Case studies of Youth Justice Fund projects -- 3.5. Survey of Youth Justice Fund recipients -- 3.6. File review -- 3.7. Analysis of Youth Justice Fund grants and contributions information management system data -- 3.8. Methodological challenges -- 4. Key findings -- 4.1. Relevance of the Youth Justice Initiative funding components -- 4.2. Program design and implementation of the Youth Justice Initiative funding components -- 4.3. Effectiveness of the Youth Justice Initiative funding components -- 4.4. Economy and efficiency -- 5. Conclusions and recommendations -- 5.1. Relevance of the Youth Justice Initiative funding components -- 5.2. Program design and implementation of the Youth Justice Initiative funding components -- 5.3. Effectiveness -- 5.4. Economy and efficiency -- 5.5. Recommendations and management response -- Appendix A. Bibliography -- Appendix B. Tables -- Appendix C. Profile of intensive rehabilitative custody and supervision cases -- Appendix D. Logic model -- Appendix E. Evaluation framework -- Appendix F. Interview guides -- Appendix G. Survey questionnaire -- Appendix H. File review templates.