The Viking Homes Saga: Group Home Placements for Juveniles

Abstract

Juvenile Courts, particularly in Ontario, have always assumed that they had the authority to commit delinquent children into the care and custody of private, corporate-operated group homes. However, a recent ruling of the Supreme Court of Ontario, upheld by the Ontario Court of Appeal, had put an end to this idea when placements with "Viking Homes" were held to be beyond the powers of a Juvenile Court. This paper examines the value of the group home programme to juvenile delinquents and analyzes two judgments in great detail to show that their reasoning is not entirely free of doubt.