When Marion Cohen first became a provincial court judge in 1993, she had a very traditional model of the justice system in her mind, one steeped in formality where the judge is more distant and the dialogue is almost exclusively with the lawyers.
“So as a judge you’re going back and forth between these two courts … and you’re broadening your scope in terms of understanding the family factors, the dynamics, the psychology, the sociology, everything that is at play in those spheres,” she said in a recent interview.That concept of having family and youth court in the same courthouse is about to end, as youth criminal matters are transferred this month to the new Toronto courthouse near University Ave. and Dundas St. W.
The Ontario Court of Justice refused to confirm to the Star whether any of 311 Jarvis’ five judges will be going to the new courthouse, or if there will be specialized youth court judges in that building. Those who spoke to the Star said it’s their understanding that that will not be the case, though there are separate courtrooms for youth in the new courthouse.
Pointing out the emphasis on rehabilitation in the Youth Criminal Justice Act, Weagant said he and his colleagues “really took that to heart.” “The left hand could know what the right hand was doing, and it was really helpful to make sure there weren’t inconsistent orders,” said Emma Rhodes, a long-time child and youth lawyer. “Also you’d have judges that were sensitive to the fact that a lot of youth criminal issues were tied to problems with youth in care. So we’ve kind of lost this.”
“That can be very traumatizing, a young person in care is often having to deal with different levels of trauma which leads to their criminal involvement, so it was really in the best interest of the young person to not have to tell their story to many people,” she said.