Against the backdrop of the mass murders of Sept. 11 and the worldwide police investigation they unleashed, it seems almost petty to talk about regular, everyday crime.

While the nation convulses over sightings of "suspicious" white powder and politicians wring their hands endlessly over a handful of ugly hate crimes, there's little appetite for seemingly mundane issues like youth violence.

People want to talk about the interest rate, which has just hit a 40-year low, not the youth violence rate, which is at an eight-year high.

All of which is understandable, but doesn't make it right.

Especially when, amid the flurry of "anti-terrorist" busywork that has overtaken Ottawa, a major legislative milestone - or land mine, depending on how you look at it - is looming.

Yes, two long years after it was first introduced (after years of dickering before that), the replacement for the Young Offenders Act - the new Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) - is about to be passed by the Senate.

Justice Minister Anne McLellan has long been counting on this to play out as a case of good riddance to a hated law. An Angus Reid poll found 73% of Canadians had no confidence in the YOA, notorious for being too soft on young criminals.

What's not as well known, however, is that the cumbersome YCJA creates more problems than it solves. Critics, including victim advocates across the country (and yours truly), have tried to sound the alarm. But it's been an uphill battle against public fatigue over the YOA, the mind-numbing complexity of the bill itself, and the lack of a sufficiently high-profile youth crime to rally public opinion.

McLellan has touted the YCJA as a great Liberal compromise, promising it will be soft on non-violent offenders but tough on the truly serious criminals. And she would never mislead Canadians, would she?

Before Sept. 11, there was still some hope in law-enforcement circles the YCJA could be stopped. A last stand, if you will, at the Senate.

PETITION REVIVED

Joe Wamback, the Newmarket father whose son, Jonathan, was nearly beaten to death by a group of young thugs in 1999, revived his million-signature petition for a youth crime law that would truly make young criminals accountable (read it at www.jonathanwamback.com). Groups representing victims across the country signed on, as did a number of Tory senators who pledged, if they couldn't get it scrapped altogether, to at least ensure the bill didn't get the usual Senate rubber stamp.

Ontario even contributed some heavy artillery - Attorney General David Young not only held public hearings (something McLellan never did) to air real concerns about the bill being too soft, he proposed 100 amendments to it. Not that McLellan was listening. (To be fair, Young's Quebec counterpart threatened to sue the feds, saying the bill is too tough. This argument, which has as much to do with separatist concerns as legal ones, only helps feed McLellan's pose that the bill is perfectly balanced.)

So what's changed after Sept. 11? Actually, nothing. The battle goes on, even if it's no longer on the front line of public concern. Next week, Wamback, along with Ontario's excellent Office for Victims of Crime and other victim reps, will make a last-ditch presentation to the Senate, urging them to see reason and stop the bill.

OBVIOUS FLAWS

Their arguments are legion, but they centre on obvious flaws like the bill's failure to treat assault or sexual assault as serious violent crimes, and new parole and release rules that are even more lax than those under the YOA.

Ontario's Young will also address the Senate next week, urging, among other things, mandatory jail time for 16- and 17-year-olds who commit crimes with weapons.

Legal details aside, the cause is simple: we need a youth crime law that stresses deterrence and accountability, instead of excuses and protection for teenage criminals.

But is anyone listening, post-Sept. 11? I truly hope so, even if it's a faint hope.

Domestic crime might not be top of mind right now, but surely Sept. 11 has awakened our desire for security - and broken our tolerance for lax laws based on political correctness.

I'd like to believe we've been sensitized, to our own complacency and the pitfalls of weak laws. We've lost patience for endless second chances, and for non-accountability, be it in our governments, our courts or our jails.

Yes, it's a faint hope that all this will translate to something as specific as the YCJA. But I applaud those who carry on the fight. It's not over yet.