Fact Sheet

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NATIONAL PAROLE BOARD'S PERFORMANCE REPORT 2006-2007

• In 2006-07, the Board conducted 18,000 conditional release reviews. Work to prepare for and conduct these reviews, accounted for $33.9 million in expenditures in 2006-07 or 78% of all NPB expenditures for the year.
• Of the 1,310 full paroles that ended in 2006-07, the majority (71%) were successfully completed under supervision in the community. Of the remainder, 259 (20%) had their paroles revoked for violating the conditions of their release and 127 (10%) were revoked for new offences.
• The vast majority (84%) of the 3,025 day parole releases were successfully completed. 363 (12%) were revoked for breaching their release conditions and 135 (5%) were revoked for a new offence.
• Most of the 5,418 releases on statutory release (58%) were completed successfully. Of the remainder, 1,663 (31%) releases were revoked for violation of conditions and 606 (11%) were revoked as a result of new offences.
  Successful completion refers to releases in which the offenders remain under supervision in the community without violating the conditions of their release or committing a new offence. The re-offending rate is defined as the number of parole revocations resulting from the commission of a new offence.
  Full parole and day parole can only be granted by the National Parole Board (NPB) while statutory release is granted by law at two thirds of the sentence without the approval of NPB.
• Convictions for violent offences by offenders on conditional release (including day parole, full parole and statutory release) have declined steadily over the past ten years dropping by 33% since 1996/97 from 252 to 169. The year 2006/07 is shown but not used in calculations because the number of convictions for violent offences will often fluctuate during the next 12 to 18 months after a fiscal year ends because charges for violent offenders often take that long to proceed through the courts.
  
  Violent offences include crimes such as murder, attempted murder, sexual assault, assault causing bodily harm, hostage-taking, forcible confinement and armed robbery.
• During 2006-07, the federal prison population increased to 13,171, as did the conditional release population at 8,449.
• The National Parole Board conducted nearly 18,000 case reviews during 2006-07. Of these, 6,935 were panel hearings involving face-to-face meetings with offenders in federal penitentiaries
• The Board conducted 608 detention reviews in 2006-07, including both initial and annual reviews, a decrease of 7% from the previous year. 222 offenders were detained in prison past their statutory release date.
• The NPB recorded 21,434 contacts with victims during 2006-07, an increase of 28% over the previous year. Victims also made 252 presentations at 152 hearings during 2006-07, 214 in person and 36 via audio or video tape.
• 2,055 people attended 865 parole hearings as observers last year and 5,871 written Board decisions were released publicly.
• The Board received more than 26,500 applications for pardons in 2006-07. 14,748 pardons were either granted or issued in 2006-07 and 103 were denied. The grant rate was 99%.
• Since 1970, the National Parole Board has granted 352,631 pardons. About 97% of these are still in force indicating that the vast majority of pardon recipients remain crime free in the community.