Canadian youth crime laws are being held up by British researchers as a shining example of success at a time when the Harper government has denounced them as an unmitigated failure that must be replaced with "new balanced legislation that focuses on deterrence and responsibility."

Researchers Enver Solomon and Rob Allen, in a study highlighting "lessons from abroad" that could be used to reduce youth crime in England and Wales, conclude that Canada's Youth Criminal Justice Act has met its goal of cutting the crime rate and incarcerating fewer young people.

"My impression was that it was a very progressive piece of legislation, one of the most progressive in relation to youth crime passed by a jurisdiction in English-speaking Western world in a number of years," Mr. Solomon said in an interview.

The act, adopted by the former Liberal government in 2003 to replace the Young Offenders Act, promotes rehabilitation for young people aged 12 to 17 who are in trouble with the law, while reserving incarceration for serious violent crimes.

The British study found that in England and Wales, custody is "proving to be an expensive, ineffective tool for reducing youth crime" and "excessive use of youth custody is one of the surest ways to grow the adult prison population of the future."

When the Youth Criminal Justice Act was adopted, Canada had one of the highest youth incarceration rates in the world. Those numbers dropped a dramatic 36% between 2003 and 2008, according to the latest figures available from Statistics Canada.

While western countries have generally taken a more punitive approach to youth justice reform in recent years, Canada has passed a far more progressive piece of legislation," wrote Mr. Solomon and Mr. Allen. The legislation has certainly met its objective of reserving custody for the most serious, violent young offenders."

The Conservative government has pledged for years to rewrite the act, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper dismissing it last year as an "unmitigated failure" for failing to hold young lawbreakers accountable for their crimes. The government wants judges to consider "deterrence" as a principle in sentencing -- effectively adding on extra time to send a public message.

Also, young offenders convicted of serious and violent crimes would be publicly identified, unlike the current law that prohibits naming lawbreakers under age 18, except in rare circumstances. Tougher treatment of young offenders is one of the few remaining promises in the 2008 Conservative election platform that have not been introduced in the House of Commons.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson still intends introduce a bill, said his spokeswoman, Genevieve Breton, but she did not say when it is expected. "Our government believes, as do many Canadians, that young people who commit serious, violent crimes must receive a sentence that is proportionate to the crime and the degree of responsibility of the offender," Ms. Breton said in an e-mail.

The government's plans, while supported by many provinces, have been unpopular in Quebec, where they were held up in the 2008 federal election campaign as example of how politicians in Ottawa are out of touch with Quebec's interventionist approach to youth crime.

The British study, published by the Prison Reform Trust, an advocacy and research organization focused mainly on prisoners, draws heavily on an analysis of Canadian youth crime laws by academics Nick Bala, a Queen's University law professor; Peter Carrington, a University of Waterloo sociologist; and Julian Roberts, a leading Canadian criminologist who teaches at Oxford University in England.

The three Canadian authors warned against the Harper government pursuing a promise to toughen the Youth Criminal Justice Act, arguing it won't enhance public safety, but it will cost provincial governments significantly more money to punish young people by incarcerating them.