Performance Monitoring Report 2006-2007

5.3 INFORMATION AND SERVICE TO VICTIMS AND THE PUBLIC

The National Parole Board is responsible under the CCRA for the provision of information to victims of crime and assistance to those who wish to observe NPB hearings or to gain access to the decision registry. Effectiveness in these areas of service and support is a crucial part of the Board's efforts to be accountable to the public and to build credibility and understanding for the conditional release program.

In reviewing the information within this section, you will note some significant variances between regions and some significant changes within regional numbers. This is a result of different recording methods between the regions as well as the efforts the Board has made over the last few years to improve relations and contacts with victims and the public.

In 2005/06, the Board undertook reviews of its regional practices with regards to observers at hearings, access to the decision registry and contact with victims. The objectives of these reviews were to:

1. Determine whether there is national consistency in the NPB's practices;



2. Determine whether there is national consistency in the collection and reporting of statistical information;



3. Identify indicators that could be used to ensure an accurate assessment of regional and national workloads, and;



4. Identify best practices.

The recommendations which flowed from the reviews led to the development of an action plan in 2006/07. Follow through on the action plan will assist the Board in proceeding toward achieving national consistency in dealing with observers at hearings, in accessing the registry of decisions and in contacts with victims. One objective of the plan is to improve consistency in the collection and reporting of statistical information. To this end, the current forms used for the collection of statistical information were reviewed and modified in consultation with the regions. The amended forms, which have been used since April 1, 2007, should assist in improving the consistency of the statistics provided in 2007/08.

Information to Victims:

Table 167

CONTACTS with VICTIMS
Year	Atlantic		Quebec		Ontario		Prairies		Pacific		Canada
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#
2002/03	1863	13	1516	11	4250	30	2487	17	4154	29	14270
2003/04	2212	14	1444	9	3943	26	3461	23	4203	28	15263
2004/05	2231	14	1381	9	3958	26	3437	22	4472	29	15479
2005/06	2438	15	2445	15	4051	24	3356	20	4421	26	16711
2006/07	2530	12	2791	13	5095	24	3863	18	7155	33	21434

Contacts with victims increased 28% in 2006/07 and have risen 50% since 2002/03. The Pacific region recorded the largest regional increase in contacts with victims, in 2006/07, at 62%, followed by the Ontario region at 26%, the Prairie region at 15%, the Quebec region at 14% and the Atlantic region at 4%. The increase is probably due, at least in part, to the availability, since November 1, 2005, of funds for victims to travel to NPB hearings.

Observers at Hearings:

Table 168

OBSERVERS at HEARINGS
Year	Atlantic		Quebec		Ontario		Prairies		Pacific		Canada
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#
2002/03	303	27	282	25	263	23	193	17	99	9	1140
2003/04	156	14	191	18	184	17	325	30	224	21	1080
2004/05	264	23	321	27	159	14	167	14	262	22	1173
2005/06	264	16	413	26	513	32	199	12	229	14	1618
2006/07	282	14	519	25	655	32	324	16	275	13	2055

The number of observers at hearings increased 27% in 2006/07. All regions saw increases in the number of observers at hearings in 2006/07, with the Prairie region seeing the biggest increase (  63%), followed by the Ontario (  28%), the Quebec (  26%), the Pacific (  20%) and the Atlantic (  7%) regions. The availability of funds for victims to travel to Board hearings probably accounts for, at least, some of the increase in the number of observers at hearings in 2006/07.

Table 169

HEARINGS with OBSERVERS
Year	Atlantic		Quebec		Ontario		Prairies		Pacific		Canada
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#
2002/03	44	10	85	19	126	28	132	30	57	13	444
2003/04	35	7	71	15	144	30	157	33	68	14	475
2004/05	67	14	111	23	142	29	91	18	82	17	493
2005/06	49	7	139	20	327	47	110	16	65	9	690
2006/07	65	8	138	16	432	50	135	16	95	11	865

The number of hearings with observers increased 25% in 2006/07. All regions, except the Quebec region, saw increases in the number of hearings with observers in 2006/07. The Pacific region had the biggest increase (  46%), followed by the Atlantic (  33%), the Ontario (  32%) and the Prairie (  23%) regions. The Quebec region had virtually the same number of hearings with observers in 2006/07 as the previous year (  1). The availability of funds for victims to access for travel to Board hearings probably accounts for some of the increase in the number of hearings with observers in 2006/07.

Victims Speaking at Hearings Initiative:

Since July 2001, victims of crime have been permitted to read prepared statements at National Parole Board hearings. Up until then victims could only submit written statements and attend hearings as observers, but they were not allowed to speak. The f ollowing is information on the Board's experience with this initiative.

Table 170

VICTIMS SPEAKING at HEARINGS
		July 2001/02	2002/03	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07
Hearings with presentations		62	90	110	101	111	152
Presentations		85	135	162	149	169	252
	In person	68	97	114	114	132	214
	Audiotape	14	23	35	23	32	30
	Videotape or DVD	3	15	13	12	5	6
Requested, but did not take place because of:		24	75	37	34	49	47
	Offender	15	43	8	14	25	14
	Victim	6	22	18	18	20	30
	NPB	3	9	10	2	4	3
	CSC	0	1	1	0	0	0

In 2006/07 there were 252 presentations (  49% from 2005/06) made at 152 hearings (  37% from 2005/06). The availability, since November 2005, of funds for victims to access for travel to Board hearings probably accounts for some of the increase in the number presentations made at NPB hearings in 2006/07.

Of these presentations, 85% were in person, 12% were on audiotape and 2% were on videotape.

During 2006/07, 47 requests to speak at hearings did not take place as scheduled (  2 from 2005/06). In 64% (41% in 2005/06) of the cases, the victim was present at the hearing but decided not to make his/her presentation or the victim did not present himself/herself at the hearing. In 30% (51% in 2005/06) of these cases, the victim was present but the offender postponed the hearing and in 6% (8% in 2005/06) of the cases, the victim was present but the Board had to adjourn/postpone the hearing. In 2006/07, there were no cases where the hearing did not take place because CSC had security concerns about the victim.

Table 171

VICTIMS SPEAKING at HEARINGS 2006/07
	Atlantic	Quebec	Ontario	Prairies	Pacific	Canada
Hearings with presentations	20	19	43	29	41	152
Presentations	29	35	67	39	82	252
In person	28	30	54	37	65	214
Audiotape	1	3	10	2	14	30
Videotape or DVD	-	-	3	-	3	6
Requested, but did not take place because of:	3	2	21	14	7	47
Offender	-	-	6	5	3	14
Victim	3	2	15	9	1	30
NPB	-	-	-	-	3	3
CSC	-	-	-	-	-	-
Major offence of victimization
Aggravated assault	-	1	1	2	2	6
Assault	1	-	1	-	1	3
Assault causing bodily harm	-	2	-	-	-	2
Assault with a weapon	-	2	3	-	-	5
Attempted murder	-	1	2	2	2	7
Criminal negligence causing death	-	-	-	-	-	-
Dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death	-	-	1	-	-	1
Drunk driving – death	-	-	5	-	-	5
Forcible Confinement	-	-	1	-	-	1
Fraud	-	-	1	-	2	3
Incest	-	-	-	-	-	-
Indecent assault	-	-	-	-	-	-
Manslaughter	12	2	12	18	15	59
Murder	4	22	30	9	45	110
Robbery	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sexual assault	10	5	8	4	13	40
Sexual exploitation	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sexual interference	-	-	-	4	1	5
Spousal abuse	-	-	-	-	-	-
Threats	-	-	1	-	-	1
Utter threats – death	1	-	1	-	-	2
Other	1	-	-	-	1	2

In 2006/07, 33% of the presentations made at hearings were in the Pacific region, 27% were in the Ontario region, 15% were in the Prairie region, 14% were in the Quebec region and 12% were in the Atlantic region.

In 2006/07, 28% of the hearings with presentations were in the Ontario region, 27% in the Pacific region, 19% in the Prairie region and 13% in both the Atlantic and Quebec regions.

The major offence of victimization, for the presentations made at hearings in 2006/07, was most likely to have been murder (44%), followed by manslaughter (23%) and sexual assault (16%). By comparison, in 2005/06, the major offences of victimization were the same, but in some cases the percentages differed (murder (33%), manslaughter (25%) and sexual assault (16%)).

The major offence of victimization for presentations made since July 1, 2001, was most likely to have been murder (35%), followed by manslaughter (20%) and sexual assault (19%).

Access to the Decision Registry:

Information about access to the decision registry provides information on the number of decisions sent in response to requests.

Table 172

DECISIONS SENT from the DECISION REGISTRY
Year	Atlantic		Quebec		Ontario		Prairies		Pacific		Canada
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#
2002/03	533	13	879	22	663	17	698	17	1236	31	4009
2003/04	559	12	990	21	731	16	859	18	1562	33	4701
2004/05	574	11	1279	24	743	14	952	18	1682	32	5230
2005/06	577	11	1238	24	863	17	961	19	1484	29	5123
2006/07	735	13	1073	18	1207	21	1079	18	1777	30	5871

The number of decisions sent from the decision registry increased 15% in 2006/07. All regions, except the Quebec region, saw increases in the number of decisions sent from the decision registry in 2006/07 with the Ontario region seeing the biggest increase (  40%) followed by the Atlantic (  27%), the Pacific (  20%) and the Prairie (  12%) regions. During the same period, the Quebec region had a 13% decrease in the number of decisions sent.