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Checklist for Police Officers: Police Options (section 6)

1. Do you have reasonable grounds to believe that the youth has committed an offence?
   • If you do not, then you should not continue with this checklist.
   • If yes, then you may continue with this checklist.

   Note: You should ensure that you have advised the youth of his or her right to counsel and afforded him or her access to counsel wherever that is required during any exercise of police procedures or powers with respect to this incident. See the module on Right to Counsel.

   Before starting judicial proceedings or considering an extrajudicial sanction, a police officer must consider whether it would be sufficient to administer one of the measures listed in YCJA, section 6: take no further action, warn, caution, or refer the young person.

   Note: You should be aware that you may use a conference where you think it might assist you in decision-making in this part of the process. See the module on Conferences.

2. An extrajudicial measure is often the most appropriate, effective and timely response to criminal conduct by youth.
   • In this instance, you should consider using one of the measures listed in section 6 (take no further action, warn, caution, or referral), unless there are clear indications that these measures would not be adequate to hold the youth accountable for his or her conduct.
3. If this is a non-violent, first offence by this youth, an extrajudicial measure is presumed to be adequate to hold the youth accountable for his or her conduct.
   • Do you believe that the youth has committed a non-violent offence and has not previously been found guilty of an offence? If so, you must consider using one of the measures listed in section 6 unless there are exceptional circumstances that indicate it would not be adequate to hold the youth accountable for his or her conduct.
4. You may choose between one of four measures in order to hold the youth accountable for his or her offence. You may choose
   • to take no further action against the youth,
   • to give the youth a warning,
   • to issue a caution to the youth or
   • to refer the young person, with his or her consent, to a program or agency in the community that may assist him or her not to commit offences.

   The measure that you use should be applied fairly and be proportionate to the offence. You should use the least restrictive measure that will hold the youth accountable, ensuring the minimum intervention warranted to respond to the conduct. The measure should always be less than one a court would impose for this conduct, should the youth have been tried and found guilty of the offence.

   Within the limits of fair and proportionate accountability, the measure should be designed and applied with the following principles and objectives in mind:

   • emphasize timeliness (ensuring the measure is applied with as close a link to the conduct as possible, to help the youth understand the relationship between action and consequences);
   • be an effective intervention;
   • promote the rehabilitation of the youth;
   • offer meaningful consequences to the youth;
   • encourage the youth to acknowledge harm he or she may have caused;
   • encourage the youth to repair harm he or she may have caused;
   • involve the family of the youth;
   • respect the youth's rights, and especially any special protections or guarantees of rights applying to youth.

   Note: For further details and information on the considerations you should bear in mind when deciding which measure to use, see Principles and Objectives in the current module.