BC First Nation Youth Restorative Justice Program Development

A BC First Nation was recently awarded a grant to implement a five-year plan to reduce violence among at-risk youth aged 18-30. A significant component of this plan is the development and implementation of youth crime prevention and restorative justice programming. This project developed a sample participation agreement and youth engagement plan to support the Youth Crime Prevention Manager for the First Nation in creating and implementing programming for local at-risk youth. It also analyzed community crime statistics to highlight commonalities in crime rates and to identify potential target areas for preventative measures.

Literature reviews on existing youth programming were performed to identify recommendations for two needs: 1) a participation agreement for youth attending programs and their parents and guardians, and 2) a strategy for engaging and retaining youth participants in the program. Based on findings from the review, a sample participation agreement and a sample youth engagement and retainment plan were created. Community crime statistics were analyzed for three separate years: 2019, 2020, and 2021. Data was filtered to determine the top five offences with the highest number of incidents for each year, as well as prolific, repeat offenders across all three years. The findings of the literature review, the samples, and crime data analysis were collated into a report.