Youth justice affords second chances

Give youth offenders a second chance.

That’s what the Lloydminster Youth Justice Committee does with a little help from nonprofit organizations where youth can volunteer hours to benefit the community.

The committee cochair, Jennifer Shymanski, asked the Rotary Club of Lloydminster to consider taking on some volunteer youths for projects during her presentation at Monday’s meeting.

Youths charged with relatively minor first or second offences in Alberta may be eligible for sanctions such as community service work.

“The SPCA and The Olive Tree have taken kids, but it’s hard to find places for them to go volunteer,” said Shymanski.

Other sanctions might include victim compensation through personal service and meetings with victims and community members.

As a volunteer youth justice committee member, Shymanski works with a young offender if the court gives her a file after they have pleaded guilty or the RCMP gives her a direct referral.

Youth justice committees in Alberta hold young people accountable for their crimes, but also help them become contributing members of their communities.

The committees have three months to help court file young offenders and 45 days for police referrals.

“It’s all about second chances, helping them to understand what they did was wrong and move forward in a better path to make better decisions,” said Shymanski.

She says they sit down with a young offender and their family at the RCMP station.

“We read over the police report, we ask them their side of the story. We’ve also talked to the victim at that point as well and we talk about what could have been done differently,” explained Shymanski.

She says it’s also important to find out what’s going on in their lives, including social media.

If they committed an assault they want to know if they are being bullied or if they need some addictions help or counselling.

She notes with court files, the committee provides help for the young offender and does check-ins every week and sends notes to the court every week.

Shymanski says if the youth doesn’t complete the programming or the maximum of 60 hours of community volunteering, they will go back to court.

“I just need a place for these kids to get volunteer hours,” she told Rotary.

Shymanski was introduced as an oil - field dispatcher with a bachelor of arts in sociology who loves her job and also has a passion for working with young offenders.

She currently has a file of seven young offenders, and her personal reward is seeing the kids make better decisions.

Shymanski told Rotary supporting these volunteer-run committees is an effective way to reduce crime.

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