- Vancouver's Downtown Community Court
- Prolific Offender Management Project
- Bail Reform Project
- Community Crime Prevention Pilots
Criminal Justice Reform Projects
Bail Reform Project
A 2006 review of bail statistics by the Provincial Court of British Columbia found in almost 40,000 of the approximately 107,000 bail appearances no bail order was made. To make the best use of court resources, the review recommended bail hearings proceed outside of regular court hearings.
The bail reform project – launched in May 2007 – aimed to make bail hearings more effective and allow them to be heard outside of regular court hearings.
A number of benefits for the criminal justice system were anticipated, including:
- providing better information, training and access to advice from Crown counsel for police to assist them in exercising their discretion and advise them regarding release decisions;
- employing video and other technologies to provide earlier and improved access to counsel for the accused. The technology permits bail hearings to proceed without requiring sheriffs to transport the accused to a courthouse;
- ensuring that the case is reviewed by Crown and defence and coordinated by a Judicial Case Manager prior to scheduling matters to determine if a hearing is required and if the parties are prepared to proceed. It ensures the court has complete access to the accused’s criminal record, if any, as well as any outstanding charges; and
- scheduling bail hearings by videoconference with the Justice Centre to reduce the number of bail hearings that interrupt scheduled court hearings. This reduces delays at court and inconvenience to the accused, counsel, police officers and witnesses.
Pilots were set up in northeastern British Columbia, in the communities of Dawson Creek, Fort St. John and Fort Nelson, and in the Lower Mainland, in Surrey and Delta in 2008/2009 to respond to the review’s recommendations.
The project was a collaborative effort involving all participants in the criminal justice system: Crown, defence bar, judicial justices of the peace, court services, RCMP, corrections, victim services, Public Prosecution Service of Canada, Legal Services Society and the office of the chief judge are involved in the project. It was co-sponsored by the former Ministry of Attorney General (now the Ministry of Justice) and the Provincial Court.
Evaluation
An independent consulting team with expertise in justice system reforms completed an evaluation of the pilots in March 2010, based on nine months of the project’s operation.
The project continues at the piloted locations. At this time, there are no plans to expand the project to other sites.
Videoconferencing Technology
Click on the thumbnail images to view larger photographs of the videoconferencing technology pictures below.
