Youth Workers’ Discourses on the Overrepresentation of Indigenous Youth in the Criminal Legal System: An Exploratory Research Note

In an age of reconciliation, the issue of overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples, in particular Indigenous youth, in the criminal legal system is problematized more than ever. An array of youth workers from grassroots and welfarist organizations are mobilizing to prevent Indigenous youth from being criminalized. This study explores the discourses and experiences of various youth workers in Ontario, Canada in order to understand their perspectives on the problem of overrepresentation, focusing particularly on the critical role of the police in filtering in or out criminalizable youth. The discourses of the youth workers reveal the limits of attempts to tackle the problem of overrepresentation through reforms of criminal legal frameworks and institutions. However, the results are limited by the small sample size (n = 10). Implications of this study for Indigenous populations in other parts of the world, as well as future directions for research on the overrepresentation of Indigenous youth in the criminal legal system are discussed.