Criminal law

At the police station

What happens when a youth is placed under arrest?

The law provides for specific protections that restrict the power of the police when the person arrested is (or appears to be) less than 18 years old. From the moment that the police officer places the youth under arrest, this is how things unfold:

The arrest:

• The police inform the youth of the reasons for her arrest and also explain her rights (right to a lawyer, right to communicate with her parents, right to remain silent, right to be released as soon as possible, etc...). For more information, see the Infosheets What you should know about the right to remain silent and Understanding your right to a lawyer.
  
  
• Then, the police perform a general search of the youth, while she is still clothed. To find out more about searches, see the Infosheet Opening the door... to a police search.
  
  
• The police must release the youth, unless there is a valid reason under the law to detain her longer. If they decide to release her, they give her a document containing the details of the offence and indicating the date when she must appear before the youth court.
  
  
• If necessary, the police bring the youth to the police station. To do so, they can handcuff her. Handcuffs are regularly used by police in many situations, even those involving minors.

At the police station:

• Once again, the youth is informed of her right to contact a lawyer, as well as her parents or another adult, and she is given the chance to do so. At the station, the police question her about the offence, in the presence of her lawyer. The parents or another adult contacted by the young person can also be present during questioning. The adolescent is not obliged to answer the police officers’ questions. For more information, see the Infosheet What you should know about the right to remain silent.
  
  
• Right from the beginning, the police must consider extrajudicial options, such as a warning or a caution (please note: there is no official caution program in Quebec). The police must also consider referring the youth to a program or agency in the community that may help her and prevent her from reoffending. To learn more, see the Infosheet Extrajudicial measures: Keeping adolescents out of court.
  
  
• If the police determine that it is appropriate to press charges, they must send the file to the Crown counsel and recommend whether or not to apply the extrajudicial sanctions program. An extrajudicial sanction means that a young person will be made to take responsibility for the offence she committed outside of the formal legal system, without having to go to court. If the Crown counsel believes that an extrajudicial sanction is not sufficient to hold the youth accountable, he can file charges against the youth.
  
  
• In general, the authorities have the obligation to release the youth and give her a summons to appear before the court. However, if the police have reasonable grounds to detain the youth, she can be transferred to a Quebec Youth Centre until her appearance before a judge. It is then up to the judge to determine whether to release the youth during the proceedings.

This is what our friend Dominique can expect during the next few hours!

What are the obligations of the police regarding the right to a lawyer?

After informing the adolescent of her rights, the police must give her a reasonable opportunity to contact a lawyer in private. The youth has the right to use a phone in an isolated area, to consult the phone book, and to be given a list of lawyers who accept youth cases.

Until the adolescent has had the chance to obtain the services of a lawyer, the police cannot ask her questions or otherwise attempt to make her talk about the alleged offence. The questioning takes place in the presence of a lawyer and the youth’s parents. To learn more about this subject, see the Infosheets entitled Understanding your right to a lawyer and Find out a little more about arrests.

Are adolescents normally detained while they await trial?

No, this is a rather exceptional measure. Generally, adolescents are released without conditions. Pre-trial detention should not be used as a substitute for the services of the Director of Youth Protection, mental health treatment, or other more appropriate social service measures.

In addition, the judge must presume that detention is not necessary for the protection of the public if the young person could not, on being found guilty, be sentenced to custody. In such a case, the judge will release the youth while she awaits her trial.

The police can opt for pre-trial detention only when it is found to be necessary in order to:

• establish the identity of the young person;
  
  
• ensure that she will be present in court;
  
  
• collect, preserve, or protect evidence of the offence;
  
  
• prevent the youth from continuing the same offence or prevent the commission of other offences;
  
  
• ensure the security of the victim and witnesses.

So, more often than not, an adolescent who is arrested will be released immediately, or at the latest, several hours after her arrival at the police station. It is only in exceptional circumstances that she will be brought before a judge, who also has a general obligation to release her. When released, the adolescent may have to respect certain conditions. Any breach of conditions could result in new charges being laid. In fact, failure to respect a condition is itself considered an offence.

For more information on this subject, see the Infosheets I’ve been detained! and Conditional release.

If pre-trial detention is considered necessary, where is the adolescent detained?

During the police investigation (which generally takes place in the hours following the youth’s arrest), the adolescent is kept at the police station. This is so the police, in the presence of the youth’s lawyer and parents, can question her. She is not thrown behind bars; rather, she is sent to a place reserved for youth detention. She might be there alone or with other detained youth, but she is never placed in detention with adults.

For example, Dominique could be brought to a place guarded by police and could find herself in the company of other adolescents who were at the bar with her. However, if the investigation requires that the youths not communicate with each other, they will be kept in separate locations.

After questioning Dominique, the police may decide that she should not be released. In such a case, they must transfer her as quickly as possible to a place commonly referred to as a “Youth Centre” In theory, this transfer must take place on the same day, before nighttime. She will then be brought before a judge the following morning or, at the very latest, 24 hours following her arrest.

Do the police have to call the adolescent’s parents?

When an adolescent is arrested and brought to the police station, the officers must contact her parents. The notice to parents is mandatory in the following cases:

• when the situation requires the detention of the adolescent before she is brought before the court;
  
  
• when the police release the youth, but intend to initiate proceedings against her.

The youth placed under arrest also has the right to phone her parents or another adult, as well as a lawyer.

To find out more, see the Infosheet Notifying parents: A mandatory step.

Do the police always take the adolescent’s fingerprints?

No, it depends on the charges against her. It is only in cases where she is accused of a criminal act that police can take fingerprints and photographs of the youth. If she is charged with a summary conviction offence or is accused of breaking a provincial regulation or law, her fingerprints will not be taken.

Here are some examples of offences that require fingerprints to be taken:

• sexual assault;
  
  
• theft;
  
  
• robbery, in other words a theft committed with violence or the use of a weapon;
  
  
• aggravated assault, which means assaulting someone in a way that causes injury, mutilates, disfigures, or places the victim’s life in danger;
  
  
• breaking and entering into a private home.

Will Dominique have to submit to being fingerprinted? Probably, because the quantity of cannabis found on her is significant enough for its possession to be considered a criminal act. In practice, the police tend to take the accused’s fingerprints whenever a criminal act is involved.

1. Service de police de la Ville de Montréal
2. Sûreté du Québec
3. Texte de la loi