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NEWS RELEASE
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September 18,
2009 |
Ministry of Attorney General |
VANCOUVER’S
DOWNTOWN COMMUNITY COURT FIRST ANNIVERSARY
VANCOUVER – In the year since Vancouver’s Downtown Community Court embarked on a new problem-solving approach to dealing with offenders, the Province and judiciary have gained insight into assisting offenders by bringing together justice, health and social service agencies to help change criminals’ behaviour.
“There has been significant interest in the progress of Canada’s first community court over the past year,” said Attorney General Michael de Jong, QC. “We are encouraged by the impact the community court is making in reducing criminal activity through addressing both the crime and its underlying causes. Starting in 2010, the court will be evaluated so that we can see what is working best with this new court.”
Since it opened in September 2008, 1,786 accused have been through the court and 1,076 concluded their cases. The community court hears about 50 cases a day, of which 15 are new. When required, offenders are given support and services, such as health care, housing or help with obtaining income assistance.
“Policing smarter means moving beyond old-style approaches like locking
offenders away with little consideration for why they committed the crime in
the first place,” said Solicitor General Kash Heed. “The community court gets
to the root cause of crime with solutions to help offenders deal with their
problems in a meaningful way and thereby reduce the chance of them
re-offending.”
Between Sept. 10, 2008 and July 31, 2009:
· 568 individuals attended social, mental health and health programming at community court. The court is able to facilitate referrals to addiction and mental health programs.
· Accused contributed 6,055 hours of work to community service programs. Community service includes projects like assisting in a community kitchen or cleaning up roadways and sidewalks.
“The community is really supporting the court by helping us identify meaningful community service assignments," said Judge Thomas Gove. “Although one year is too early to reach any conclusions, the community court teams have had success in changing the lives of many whose offending has been chronic. Some of these people are off drugs and are not stealing. Some have employment and the sense of self-worth that comes with being a contributing member of their community.”
The community court is located at 211 Gore Ave. The pilot was developed jointly by the Provincial Court of B.C., Ministry of Attorney General and community court and government partners. Information on the community court is available at: www.communitycourt.bc.ca.
A backgrounder follows.
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Contact: |
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For more information on government
services or to subscribe to the Province’s news feeds using RSS, visit the
Province’s website at www.gov.bc.ca.
BACKGROUNDER
September 18, 2009 Ministry of Attorney General
STATISTICS FOR
Sept. 10, 2008 to July 31, 2009
The
following statistical information for the Vancouver’s Downtown Community Court
(DCC) represents the period of Sept. 10,
2008 to July 31, 2009.
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Total |
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Number
of new individuals who appeared in the DCC |
1,786 |
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Number
of court cases resolved in the DCC |
1,970 |
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Number
of individuals who resolved one or more court cases in the DCC |
1,076 |
Accused persons
who had a hearing in the DCC, but did not conclude their court cases
there, were either scheduled to appear
in the DCC again later and work towards resolution in the community court or
they elected to proceed to a trial at another court location.
Key Offender Management Facts
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Total |
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Number
of individuals who attended social, health and mental health programming at
DCC |
568 |
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Number
of individuals who received shelter and housing |
209 |
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Number
of individuals who applied for and received income assistance |
35 |
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Number
of hours of community service contributed by DCC clients |
6,055 |
Examples
of community service work completed:
·
Perform
a variety of tasks in a kitchen environment, including serving meals.
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General
building maintenance and cleaning tasks.
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Reception,
greeting and answering telephones.
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Mail
sorting and bulk mailouts.
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Cleaning
up and maintaining roadways, sidewalks, alleyways - keeping our streets and
neighbourhoods clean.
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Laundry.
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General
warehousing - stocking shelves, sorting goods, loading/unloading trucks.
·
Library
- sorting/processing library materials.
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Gardening,
maintaining hanging baskets.
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Graffiti
removal.
Estimated
value of community service work completed: $48,440, based on $8/hr. wage for
each of the 6,055 hours of work completed.
Examples
of community partners involved with the DCC on community service projects:
· Lookout Emergency Aid Society
· RainCity Housing
· Portland Hotel Society
· Gallery Gachet
· Gathering Place
· First United Church
· Union Gospel
· Coast Mental Health
· City of
· Salvation Army, Harbour Light
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Salvation Army,
Belkin House
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Contact: |
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For more information on government
services or to subscribe to the Province’s news feeds using RSS, visit the
Province’s website at www.gov.bc.ca.
