Youth crime rose in 2022, and 2023 has seen its share of troubling incidents

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According to the Winnipeg Police Service In its 2022 Statistical Report released in May, the city saw an increase in youth crime in 2022 over the previous two years, If the first seven months are any indication, the numbers for 2023 may not be much better.

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So far this year, there have been at least two dozen incidents of serious crimes – serious enough for the WPS to bring to the public’s attention – carried out by individuals under the age of 18 including some not yet old enough to legally drive.

– A 14-year-old boy was charged with second-degree murder after a 17-year-old boy was stabbed multiple times outside of Canada Life Centre on June 17 after leaving a concert. The boy later died in hospital.

– A 15-year-old was shot and later died and his 17-year-old brother was injured at a residence in St. James on March 6 allegedly by a 17-year-old boy who was known to them and was later arrested and charged with manslaughter.

– A 17-year-old boy was charged with second-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder and aggravated assault in the shooting death of a woman and the wounding of four men and one woman in two separate West End residences on March 7.

– A 12-year-old boy was arrested and charged with robbery, aggravated assault and assault after allegedly slashing a 17-year-old boy across the face with a machete on July 14 while trying to steal his property.

– A verbal dispute between two groups of youths on a Winnipeg Transit bus on June 4 resulted in a 14-year-old boy suffering from upper body injuries sustained from a stabbing.

– A 16-year-old boy was arrested after allegedly robbing and attacking three 14-year-old boys and a 13-year-old at CF Polo Park mall on May 5. In addition to the stabbing incident, the teen had also been identified by police as a suspect in a string of violent pizza delivery robberies and mischief to property incidents in March and late April.

– A 12-year-old girl was stabbed at a party in Winnipeg’s North End in the early hours of April 25 after police said a 13-year-old girl was kicked out of the home and returned armed with a knife. She was charged with break and enter and aggravated assault.

– A 16-year-old boy and a 17-year-old boy were both charged with assault with a weapon after allegedly assaulting each other at Kildonan Place mall with bear spray and an imitation firearm loaded with blank cartridges, respectively, on April 17.

In its 2022 Statistical Report, Winnipeg Police reported 1,664 incidents of youth crime, an increase over 2021 and 2020, but still below the five-year average, police said. In the report, police noted that youth crime in Winnipeg had been declining steadily for a number of years, reaching an historic low in 2021. The large year-over-year percent change is influenced by the recent low in 2021.

The number of homicides (13), robberies (158), aggravated assaults (36) and sexual assaults (43) were all up from the previous year.

“Any increase, the contrast just seems so extreme now because, it’s a 40% increase, but it’s still well below the five-year average,” said Winnipeg Police Chief Danny Smyth in an interview with Winnipeg Sun‘s Ryan Stelter following the release of the Statistical Report on May 30. “So I think, again, the danger of taking aggregate data and just looking from one year to the next, again, perspective is important.

“We have had some youth involved in some pretty serious crimes in the last couple of years, we’ve had some youth that were the offenders in some homicides. Those are always alarming when we see that. We know as a community, we have all just come through, probably the biggest trauma we’ll ever experience through the pandemic, and our youth went through that as well. We’re seeing a reflection of that as well. Seeing a lot more people just feeling the need to arm themselves. A lot more weapons, a lot more bear spray. And it’s a lot of young people that seem to be the ones that are possessing that, those kinds of things.”

Before the spike last year, violent crime among youth had actually been declining since 2017, dropping from 2,505 incidents six years ago.

University of Winnipeg criminologist Kelly Gorkoff cautions against drawing conclusions from the last year and a half. While there have been some very visible incidents that might have it appear that way, there is no real ‘evidence’ that youth crime is up.

What is up is there is a new visibility of people and some of these crimes are more in public such as CF Polo Park or The Forks, Gorkoff said. And there is a lot more fear – much of this amplified by politicians who are not really examining facts but engaging in rhetoric.

Winnipeg has long been the child poverty capital of Canada, she added, with lots and lots of children and youth in care and those care situations are not improving. Many more people can be seen begging for money at intersections and housing in bus shacks underlining a lack of stable infrastructure for vulnerable youth. The decision about what to do here tends to fall on the side of policing which is clearly proven not to reduce crime and produce public safety, she said.

Schools, libraries and community club programs are being cut. These are traditionally places where kids go when they face problems and issues or need basic care they often can’t get at home. There are a lack of safe spaces for young people to go.

Provincial government does have programs to help vulnerable youth: Huddle and Manitoba Justice Community Mobilization programs.

Located in Winnipeg, Brandon and Selkirk, the six Huddle locations are one-stop shops for health care, youth services, community events and other useful services to help young people feel better. Instead of bouncing around to different doctors, counsellors or drop-ins, youth can find everything they need in one warm, safe space.

As well, there are 12 Manitoba Justice Community Mobilization programs located across the province aimed at youth who are high risk and already involved in up to three systems. One of the programs is START (Selkirk Team for At Risk Teens) in Selkirk, in Winnipeg the program is called Thunderwing, part of Mount Carmel Clinic’s community services, working with individuals and families.

“Manitoba Justice is committed to reducing violent criminal activity by perpetrators of all ages to ensure safer streets in our communities,” said a a spokesperson from Manitoba Justice. “Community leaders, public safety officials and government leadership at all levels are very aware of the issues and are working on a variety of initiatives to address youth violent crime. Included in these efforts are community mobilization, diversion, gang exiting programs and community programing.

“While we are concerned about these acts of violence by young people, and there has been an increase in youth crimes from 2021 to 2022 according to WPS statistics, the number of cases and charges filed against young offenders remains far below pre-pandemic levels.”

In the 2022 Statistical Report, it was noted that nearly half of youths accused of a crime were processed via other means (warning, caution, community program, diversionary program).

“I think most would argue that it’s been a successful approach, particularly in dealing with youth crime,” said Smyth. “Restorative justice in general, I think, as long as somebody meets the criteria, I think we should go that route. But now you’re seeing where we can tease out and, maybe tighten a little bit.

“So I’ll use bail reform and stuff that that’s been talked about in recent weeks and months. We were seeing a trend where repeat violent offenders were out on bail, and they were reoffending. We’re not talking about wide-sweeping reform, we’re talking about very targeted reform, where we take into consideration that a relatively small number of people commit a disproportionate amount of the violent crime that we’re encountering. So to be able to control that, taking them out of circulation while they await trial, I think it won’t fix things by itself. But I think we need to look at initiatives that will help us tighten up and that’s one of them.”

gdawkins@postmedia.com

Twitter: @SunGlenDawkins