New plan for repeat offenders
The B.C. government will resurrect a prolific offender management program scrapped in 2012, following a recommendation by an expert panel that studied ways to better deal with repeat offenders who commit random acts of violence.
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said the province will immediately act on three of the 28 recommendations made by Doug LePard, a former Vancouver police deputy chief and former chief of Transit Police, and Amanda Butler, a Simon Fraser University criminologist, who were asked to come up with strategies to reduce property crime and random stranger attacks which have plagued many urban cities, including Vancouver.
Their report was released on Wednesday.
Prolific offender management teams would be comprised of representatives from police, B.C. Corrections, Correctional Service Canada, Crown prosecutors, and other government ministries and would create a personalized plan for each offender based on their complex needs.
A 2013 press release from the Attorney General’s office under then-B.C. Liberal premier Christy Clark said while the pilot program ended the year before, it found that offenders who participated in the program had reduced recidivism and increased their use of physical-health services, housing and other social services. They also had fewer police contacts and spent less time in custody.
Farnworth said the province will also create a B.C. First Nations justice council pilot program to focus on reducing repeat offending among Indigenous Peoples, who are overrepresented in the criminal justice system.
The government will also create a committee to co-ordinate services among health, criminal justice and social service organizations to ensure a more integrated approach to people with complex health needs who come into conflict with the law.
The authors recommend that the government continue to support civilian-led mental health crisis response teams which can be called to deal with social disorder instead of police. Such an approach is being piloted in Victoria and New Westminster and has been advocated by Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart.
They also recommended that every provincial court be assigned a dedicated psychiatric nurse who can support immediate client psychiatric assessments and recommend diversion opportunities that do not include jail time.
While the authors said some believe the solution to repeat offending is more aggressive prosecution, sentencing and longer detention, they said the evidence shows that time spent in jail causes harm and does not reduce recidivism.
LePard and Butler did not make recommendations around giving judges the power to order that chronic offenders released on bail wear real-time electronic monitoring devices or force an offender struggling with mental health and addictions issues to do mandatory treatment as part of their sentencing, something they were specifically asked to look into.
They did recommend that the B.C. Prosecution Service look into the potential for increasing the use of “therapeutic bail” orders for people with mental health and substance use needs.
Therapeutic bail, sometimes called therapeutic sentencing delay, involves an agreement between Crown and defence counsel to delay sentencing while a person undertakes treatment or programming that allows the person to avoid a criminal conviction.
LePard and Butler spent the past four months consulting with police, Crown prosecutors, local governments, health authorities and community groups. The authors lamented that they did not have the time required to build relationships and trust with Indigenous communities which is why their voices are missing from the consultation.
LePard and Butler said it’s clear the pandemic has had a profound effect on access to services and worsened health outcomes for marginalized people which can contribute, in part, to crime and disorder.
The pandemic has also led to fewer people held for trial on remand, and a decrease in charges for substantive offences and for breaching bail conditions, the report found.
LePard and Butler heard from police and probation officers that because repeat offenders are not being held accountable and not facing charges for breached conditions, “they are emboldened to continue offending, deteriorating community confidence in the justice system.”
Crown prosecutors said they are bound by a Supreme Court of Canada case law that requires the “least restrictive measures” possible for someone on bail following an arrest and charge because a person is innocent until proven guilty at trial.
Prosecutors also said the lack of health and social services for accused, particularly in northern B.C., contributes to the cycle of crime.
The expert panel was struck in May by former attorney general David Eby, who resigned to run for leader of the B.C. NDP. At the time, the NDP was under fire for failing to deal with what critics called a “catch-and-release system” which sees violent criminals released on bail allowing them to reoffend.
In late August, Kelowna RCMP took the unusual step of issuing a public warning about a prolific offender who was released on bail after his arrest for assault, mischief, theft of mail and breach of a probation order. Justin Wayne Collins has more than 421 police files and 64 charges against him since 2016.
While Statistics Canada figures show violent crime, such as assaults, in cities like Victoria and Vancouver has remained steady and has not risen during the pandemic, the Vancouver Police Department has been grappling with unprovoked attacks on strangers that draw headlines and stoke fear.