Final report on the review of Canada’s criminal justice system
What we heard: Potential solutions
People engaged not only around criminal justice system problems but also around solutions. The consultations generated a range of views and suggestions. Across the many types of consultative forums, there was a degree of consensus on a number of topics, including the need to:
- recast the foundations of the criminal justice system to put less priority on the “punishing” of offenders and focus instead on prevention, diversion, and rehabilitation – all while making sure to hold offenders to account for their actions
- incorporate restorative justice and other alternative approaches into the mainstream criminal justice system
- apply a wider lens to examine how our criminal justice system intersects with other social systems including housing, health, child care and income support, and how some individuals wind up falling through the cracks and into contact with the system. Changes to the criminal justice system have important implications for these systems and the individuals in them
- better consider and, in cooperation with various agencies, better address the root causes of crime, including limited educational and employment opportunities and limited social services. The interdependence of criminal justice and other social systems requires collaboration not just among those who work in the system, but also among governments
- adopt a problem-solving approach to criminality. This approach could include the use of specialized courts, including drug treatments courts, mental health courts, domestic violence courts, Indigenous courts and more. Ideally, this would result in more effective methods of justice based on a more detailed understanding of specific issues and challenges
- abolish or limit mandatory minimum sentences, so judges can better consider an offender’s individual circumstances and ensure that any punishment truly fits the crime and holds the offender to account
- increase accountability, transparency and oversight around the use of administrative segregation across the criminal justice system
- adopt a whole-of-government approach to make pardons more accessible, to ensure that certain offenders have the opportunity to move on without a criminal record impeding their attempts to focus on the future
- decrease court delays
- work to address the disproportionate number of individuals from certain demographic groups in the criminal justice system – and introduce measures to better serve the needs of those with mental illness or substance use issues
- increase the collaboration between the federal government and the provinces and territories to determine and implement key reform priorities
- increase understanding among justice system officials through education on matters such as sexual assault trauma and traditional forms of Indigenous justice
- amend the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights so that victims automatically receive information instead of having to request it
- provide more funding and resources to organizations that serve victims
- build the capacity of victim services and justice professionals to respond to the needs of vulnerable and marginalized groups of victims
- improve cross-sectoral collaboration – between health and justice sectors, for example – to help ensure that victims have better access to longer-term health care supports such as counselling
- develop and enhance victim-focused approaches throughout the criminal process to improve victims’ confidence in the system and rates of reporting
- ensure that restorative justice opportunities – particularly those that are grounded in victim-focused and trauma-informed practice – are offered to all victims of crime
- increase data linkages and integrate information system connections between the criminal justice system and other social systems proactively
It was also frequently suggested during the review that permanent mechanisms should be formalized so that the criminal justice system can learn from its own experiences, its own successes and its own shortcomings. This would help it to better adapt to changing circumstances.
Canada’s criminal justice system should help to promote a safe, peaceful and prosperous Canada. To achieve that goal, it must be fair and objective. It must also be flexible enough to account for disproportionate impacts on certain segments of Canadian society.
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