Performance Monitoring Report 2006-2007

5.2 PERFORMANCE INFORMATION

5.2.2 PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

This section provides information on the performance of offenders on conditional release. As you will see, NPB performance indicators yield two consistent messages: 1) Conditional release contributes to public safety; and, 2) Parole, based on a thorough case assessment, is the most effective form of conditional release. That is, while accelerated parole review and statutory release contain elements of success, the regular process of assessing the offender's risk of re-offending consistently produces better results. Offenders who are granted parole, based on an assessment of their risk of re-offending, are more likely to complete their supervision period in the community and are less likely to re-offend (violently or non-violently) before or after warrant expiry than offenders released as a result of statute-based systems such as accelerated parole review or statutory release.

The Board measures the success and failure of offenders on day parole, full parole and statutory release. Recognizing public concerns for safety and the intent of the CCRA, information on the performance of offenders in the community addresses re-offending violently as a priority.

TIME UNDER SUPERVISION

This section provides information on the average length of the federal supervision periods for offenders on day parole, full parole and statutory release over the last five years. This information provides a useful context to the discussion of performance indicators for offenders on conditional release, particularly in relation to outcomes for conditional release.

As the chart below indicates, federal full parole supervision periods are considerably longer than statutory release and day parole periods. The average supervision period for all federal full paroles completed over the last five years was almost 4 times longer than the average for offenders on statutory release and over 5½ times longer than the average day parole supervision period. This is an important point because the longer the supervision period is, the more opportunity the offender has to fail and thus not complete the sentence in the community.

Compared to the average supervision period length over the last five years, the full parole average was 24.4 months in 2006/07, while statutory release averaged 6.5 months and day parole averaged 4.5 months.

The tables below provide more detailed information on the average length of federal supervision periods over the last five years.

Table 112

AVERAGE LENGTH of FEDERAL SUPERVISION PERIODS for OFFENDERS WITH DETERMINATE SENTENCES28 in MONTHS (from 2002/03 to 2006/07)
Release Type	Successful Completions	Revocations for Breach of Cond.	Revocations with a Non-Violent Offence	Revocations with a Violent Offence	Average Length
Day Parole – Regular	4.6	4.6	4.7	4.8	4.6
Day Parole – APR	4.5	3.6	3.3	3.4	4.3
All Day Parole	4.5	4.4	4.1	4.6	4.5
Full Parole – Regular	33.0	17.7	17.4	15.6	29.3
Full Parole – APR	27.6	11.5	11.3	9.7	22.5
All Full Parole	29.9	13.6	13.1	13.6	25.3
Statutory Release	6.9	6.0	6.4	7.3	6.6

The full parole of offenders released on APR is revoked significantly earlier than for offenders released on regular full parole. Over the last five years, the average supervision period length for regular full paroles that were revoked for breach of a condition was 54% of the average supervision period length for successful completions compared to 42% of the average length of successful completions for offenders released on APR full parole.

Revocation with a violent offence occurs significantly earlier in the supervision period for offenders on full parole after an APR than for offenders released after a regular review. APR full paroles are revoked because of a violent offence at 35% of the time required to successfully complete full parole APR, while regular full paroles are revoked because a violent offence at 47% of the time required to successfully complete the supervision period.

APR day paroles are revoked because of a violent offence at 76% of the time required to successfully complete, while regular day paroles are revoked because of a violent offence at 104% of the time required to successfully complete the supervision period.

Table 113

AVERAGE LENGTH of FEDERAL SUPERVISION PERIODS with DETERMINATE SENTENCES in MONTHS by ABORIGINAL and RACE (from 2002/03 to 2006/07)
	Aboriginal	Asian	Black	White	Other
Day parole	4.3	5.7	4.8	4.4	5.0
Full parole	18.9	31.1	28.7	24.6	33.6
Stat. release	5.8	9.0	8.0	6.6	8.5

Asian offenders had longer average supervision period lengths for all release types than the other offender groups, over the last five years. During the same period, Aboriginal offenders had the shortest average supervision lengths for all release types. This is due to the fact that Asian offenders had the longest average sentence lengths upon federal admission to institution on warrant of committal as well as the shortest times served prior to first federal day and full parole, while Aboriginal offenders had the shortest average sentence lengths but served the most time prior to first federal day and full parole.

Table 114

AVERAGE LENGTH of FEDERAL SUPERVISION PERIODS with DETERMINATE SENTENCES in MONTHS by GENDER (from 2002/03 to 2006/07)
	Successful Completions		Revoked for Breach of Cond.		Revocations for a Non-Violent Offence		Revocations for a Violent Offence		Average Length
	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
Day parole	4.5	4.5	4.4	4.1	4.1	4.3	4.6	4.9	4.5	4.4
Full parole	30.4	25.9	13.8	11.6	13.3	9.7	13.9	6.3	25.6	22.4
Stat. release	7.0	5.0	6.0	5.2	6.4	4.9	7.3	5.3	6.7	5.1

Female offenders spent about the same amount of time in the community on day parole as their male counterparts over the last five years, but slightly less time on full parole and statutory release. This is due to the fact that female offenders had shorter average sentence lengths upon federal admission to institution on warrants of committal.

Table 115

LENGTH of FEDERAL SUPERVISION PERIODS for SUCCESSFUL COMPLETIONS for OFFENDERS with DETERMINATE SENTENCES (2002/03 to 2006/07) (%)
Length of Supervision Period	APR DP	Regular DP	All Day Parole	APR FP	Regular FP	All Full Parole	Statutory Release
Under 3 months	49.0	26.8	34.6	0.4	0.3	0.3	40.3
3 to less than 6 months	28.5	52.6	44.2	0.6	0.5	0.6	16.4
6 to less than 9 months	13.7	19.1	17.2	1.1	1.2	1.1	16.5
9 to less than 12 months	5.1	1.1	2.5	1.3	7.1	3.8	10.0
1 to 2 years	3.2	0.2	1.3	63.0	41.0	53.4	13.1
Over 2 years	0.5	0.0	0.2	33.7	50.0	40.8	3.7

Ninety-four percent (94%) of all successfully completed federal full parole supervision periods over the last five years were one year or longer and only 0.9% of all full parole completions were for less than six months. In comparison, 79% of all day parole successful completions and 57% of statutory release successful completions were for less than six months.

Table 116

LENGTH of FEDERAL SUPERVISION PERIODS for REVOCATIONS for BREACH of CONDITION for OFFENDERS with DETERMINATE SENTENCES (2002/03 to 2006/07) (%)
Length of Supervision Period	APR DP	Regular DP	All Day Parole	APR FP	Regular FP	All Full Parole	Statutory Release
Under 3 months	55.7	20.1	29.9	5.4	2.0	4.3	19.6
3 to less than 6 months	33.9	59.4	52.4	24.4	13.8	20.8	43.7
6 to less than 9 months	6.8	18.5	15.3	17.9	16.3	17.4	21.8
9 to less than 12 months	2.1	1.9	2.0	16.0	15.2	15.7	7.8
1 to 2 years	1.5	0.2	0.5	29.5	32.4	30.5	6.3
Over 2 years	0.0	0.0	0.0	6.8	20.3	11.4	0.8

Forty-two percent (42%) of all federal full parole supervision periods that were revoked for a breach of conditions over the last five years were one year or longer.

The largest proportion of day parole revocations for breach of conditions (52%) occurred between three and six months after release and 82% occurred within 6 months of release. The largest proportion of statutory release revocations for breach of conditions also occurred between three and six months after release (44%) and 63% occurred within six months of release.

Table 117

LENGTH of FEDERAL SUPERVISION PERIODS for REVOCATIONS with NON-VIOLENT OFFENCE for OFFENDERS with DETERMINATE SENTENCES (2002/03 to 2006/07) (%)
Length of Supervision Period	APR DP	Regular DP	All Day Parole	APR FP	Regular FP	All Full Parole	Statutory Release
Under 3 months	58.9	18.8	36.9	3.7	3.8	3.7	16.4
3 to less than 6 months	33.2	61.8	48.9	23.5	14.1	20.7	41.3
6 to less than 9 months	5.7	16.5	11.6	19.5	11.9	17.2	24.7
9 to less than 12 months	1.4	2.9	2.3	17.2	15.7	16.7	9.4
1 to 2 years	0.7	0.0	0.3	28.8	31.9	29.8	7.3
Over 2 years	0.0	0.0	0.0	7.2	22.7	11.9	0.9

In 42% of cases where the federal full parole supervision period was revoked for a non-violent offence over the last five years, the offender had been in the community on full parole for one year or longer.

Thirty-seven percent (37%) of day parole revocations with a non-violent offence occurred less than three months after release, while 49% occurred between three and six months after release. The largest proportion of statutory release revocations with a non-violent offence occurred between three and six months after release (41%) and 58% of statutory release revocations with a non-violent offence occurred within six months of release.

Table 118

LENGTH of FEDERAL SUPERVISION PERIODS for REVOCATIONS with VIOLENT OFFENCE for OFFENDERS with DETERMINATE SENTENCES (2002/03 to 2006/07) (%)
Length of Supervision Period	APR DP	Regular DP	All Day Parole	APR FP	Regular FP	All Full Parole	Statutory Release
Under 3 months	42.9	10.8	15.5	7.1	3.5	4.7	15.0
3 to less than 6 months	57.1	77.1	74.2	35.7	10.5	18.8	36.4
6 to less than 9 months	0.0	10.8	9.3	17.9	24.6	22.4	23.6
9 to less than 12 months	0.0	1.2	1.0	3.6	8.8	7.1	12.4
1 to 2 years	0.0	0.0	0.0	32.1	36.8	35.3	10.2
Over 2 years	0.0	0.0	0.0	3.6	15.8	11.8	2.4

In 47% of cases where the federal full parole supervision period was revoked for a violent offence during the last five years, the offender had been in the community on full parole for one year or longer. Almost three quarters of the day parole revocations with a violent offence (74%) occurred between three and six months after release, while 90% occurred within six months of release. The largest proportion of statutory release revocations with a violent offence (36%) occurred between three and six months after release, while 51% occurred within six months of release.

²⁸ For supervision periods that ended between April 1, 2002 and March 31, 2007.