Mr. Speaker, I am not sure how those statistics compare with adult crime. However, what the member has just said is that 53 per cent of charges against young offenders are laid against first time offenders. They have never offended before. The fact that only 20 per cent have then gone on to offend more than twice is a fairly good indication to me that there is a reasonably high level of rehabilitation because of the act and the effect it has had since it was first implemented.
However, in the cases for which there is the greatest public concern, the kind of amendments that I think are going to make a substantial difference is for severe and violent crime, murder, assault, aggravated assault, sexual assault and so on, and the requirement to have the young person tried in adult court according to adult rules, the possibility of longer sentences, up to double what they are now.
I also feel that oftentimes when we do incarcerate young people we put them into a school of crime. We put them into contact with people who have been in the system perhaps more than once or twice, who are much more knowledgeable about crime and living off the avails or crime. That I do not think is a desirable situation.
I certainly believe in the requirement to look at non-custodial solutions, especially where the young person is being held directly accountable through compensation to the victim directly for the harm they have done or through community service to compensate the community directly for the harm that he or she has done to the community. Those are the kinds of measures, among others, that put a direct link between the crime that has been committed and the effects of that crime. To me that kind of discipline is a productive kind of discipline.