Whereas crimes perpetrated by repeat or prolific offenders have a negative effect on communities across the province, with repercussions including but not limited to threats to public safety; damage to public and business infrastructure; diminished economic growth; social problems; and increased policing costs, accompanied by consequential increases to local government budgets and strains on all classes that comprise the local government tax base; And whereas the provincial governments own Blue Ribbon Panel on Crime Reduction recommended, in their Final Report, that in order to limit the unnecessary recourse to short prison sentences that have little if any effect on crime reduction, measures should be taken to ensure that judges have access to a variety of effective sentencing options, supported by credible and effective programs in all communities: Therefore be it resolved that the Minister of Justice and Attorney General for British Columbia undertake the legislative and regulatory changes recommended by the Blue Ribbon Panel on Crime Reduction necessary to ensure that prolific offenders are sentenced effectively, and supported by credible programs in communities to address underlying challenges such as substance abuse or mental illness.
Ministry of Public Safety Solicitor General It is important to note that recommendations from the Blue Ribbon Panel on Crime Reduction are complex, broad in scope and require further consultation with other ministries and with other branches within the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General. Responsive to recommendation 1, manage prolific and priority offenders more effectively, BC Corrections Integrated Offender Management IOM program has shown great promise. An evaluation of the program showed that IOM has been proven to reduce reoffending by up to 48 over an 18 month period. BC Corrections continues to evaluate results and plans to expand the program to all of BCs correctional facilities in 2016. Building on best practices learned from the Prolific Offender Management POM pilot project, BC Corrections has also formed a multi-agency working group. The working group is in the early stages of creating unified, provincial strategies and information sharing protocols to support and expand committees to manage offenders throughout BC. Committees to manage prolific offenders continue to exist in the six POM pilot communities and more than 15 additional communities across BC have interagency committees based on the best practices of the POM project. BC Corrections also plans to enhance its case management and release planning process to further prepare inmates for release back in the community. In an effort to better support re-integration into society, BC Corrections is exploring opportunities to collaborate with other ministries and provincial post-secondary institutions to expand job training options for offenders. The Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General has assumed a leadership role in establishing cross-ministry partnerships to improve services for clients with mental health and addiction needs. To further this endeavour, BC Corrections and the Ministry of Health are leading the Partners in Change: Enhancing Continuity of Care project which will produce protocols to strengthen cross-ministry services delivered to clients with mental health needs at key transition points within the criminal justice system. The Policing and Security Branch has also initiated a joint project with the Ministry of Health to review integrated responses to persons experiencing a mental health andor substance use MHSU crisis. Individuals with a MHSU problem, particularly those who are dealt with repeatedly, have a significant impact on police resources. The goal of the project is to promote best practices; expand successful information sharing protocols and integrated initiatives; provide clear and practical guidance to police agencies and health authorities on their respective roles and responsibilities; and strengthen the interfaces between health authorities and police agencies across BC. The ministry is working with other provinces, territories and with the federal government to ensure that the criminal law is effective and meets British Columbias needs. In some cases, an effective response to low-level crimes committed by chronic offenders will be a non-custodial sentence in the community. These types of sentences, given they are typically longer than periods of incarceration, can also help to address the underlying causes of some offenders criminal behaviour through extended periods of treatment and counselling. We will continue to advocate for changes to federal criminal law, which provide BCs police, prosecutors and judges with the tools they need to respond to chronic offending and other criminal justice issues of importance to British Columbians.