Program Delivery Context - Reviews

Official Title: Performance Monitoring Report 2017-2018, Program Delivery Context – Reviews
From: Parole Board of Canada

Reviews

Tables 33-39

Over the past five years, efforts have been made to streamline PBC’s case management processes, which resulted in changes to reporting practices. Therefore, caution should be exercised when comparing totals over the past five years as the definition of workload has changed.

Figure 13. Federal and Provincial Reviews

• In 2017/18, the Board conducted 14,650 federal reviews and 649 provincial reviews. Compared to the previous year, the number of federal reviews decreased (-1%), as did the number of provincial reviews (-1%).
• In 2017/18, federal reviews for discretionary release (reviews for release on day and full parole) increased 4% (from 6,244 in 2016/17 to 6,497 in 2017/18). The Ontario and Pacific regions accounted for the majority of the increase. The Quebec region was the only region to report a modest decrease, which was expected as it followed a spike in the number of discretionary release reviews a year before. 
• The number of Elder-Assisted Hearings (EAH) increased 12% in 2017/18, following a 49% increase in 2016/17 (from 405 in 2015/16 to 605 in 2016/17, to 677 in 2017/18). The increase is associated with in-reach conducted by the Board with Indigenous offenders. The Prairie region accounted for 44% of all EAHs in 2017/18.
• In 2017/18, having conducted 15,299 federal and provincial reviews, the Board rendered 22,072 decisions. The number of PBC decisions decreased 1% compared to 2016/17.
• In 2017/18, the Board made more day and full parole decisions (+5% each) than the previous year, and fewer statutory release decisions (-8%).

The Board’s workload is also affected by the number of waivers and withdrawals, as well as postponements.

Figure 14. Federal and Provincial Decisions to Delay a Review of a Case

• In 2017/18, the Board rendered 3,215 decisions to accept a waiver of a federal parole decision (‑17%); 5,521 decisions to accept a postponement of a federal parole decision (+15%); and 1,046 decisions to accept a withdrawal of a federal parole application (+10%).
• In 2017/18, the Board rendered two decisions to accept a waiver of a provincial parole hearing (two fewer than the year before); 59 decisions to accept a postponement of a provincial parole decision (16 decisions fewer than the year before); and 505 decisions to accept a withdrawal of a provincial parole application (one decision fewer than the previous year).

Table 33. Federal and Provincial Reviews

Note 1: 2013/14 included reviews where the final decision was to accept postponement of the scheduled review.
Note 2: As of November 2014, following the implementation of the Integrated Decision System, the workload no longer includes decisions related to case management (administrative adjournment, postponement accepted/rejected, withdrawal accepted/rejected and panel hearing ordered). The year 2014/15 includes 2,439 such reviews conducted prior to November 2014.

Table 34. Federal and Provincial Decisions

Note 1: 2013/14 included decisions where the final decision was to accept postponement of the scheduled review.
Note 2: As of November 2014, following the implementation of the Integrated Decision System, the workload no longer includes decisions related to case management (administrative adjournment, postponement accepted/rejected, withdrawal accepted/rejected and panel hearing ordered). The year 2014/15 includes 3,206 such decisions rendered prior to November 2014.

Table 35. Federal and Provincial Pre-Release Decisions

Note 1: 2013/14 included decisions where the final decision was to accept postponement of the scheduled review.
Note 2: As of November 2014, following the implementation of the Integrated Decision System, the workload no longer includes decisions related to case management (administrative adjournment, postponement accepted/rejected, withdrawal accepted/rejected and panel hearing ordered). The year 2014/15 includes 3,020 such pre-release decisions rendered prior to November 2014.

Table 36. Federal and Provincial Post-Release Decisions

Note 1: 2013/14 included decisions where the final decision was to accept postponement of the scheduled review.
Note 2: As of November 2014, following the implementation of the Integrated Decision System, the workload no longer includes decisions related to case management (administrative adjournment, postponement accepted/rejected, withdrawal accepted/rejected and panel hearing ordered). The year 2014/15 includes 91 such post-release decisions rendered prior to November 2014.

Table 37. Detention Decisions

Note 1: 2013/14 included decisions where the final decision was to accept postponement of the scheduled review.
Note 2: As of November 2014, following the implementation of the Integrated Decision System, the workload no longer includes decisions related to case management (administrative adjournment, postponement accepted/rejected, withdrawal accepted/rejected and panel hearing ordered). The year 2014/15 includes 95 such detention decisions rendered prior to November 2014.

Note 1: The total of pre-, post- and detention hearings does not equal the total number of hearings as more than one type of decision can be undertaken at the same hearing. In the total, only one hearing is counted for each case file.
Note 2: 2013/14 included reviews where the final decision was to accept postponement of the scheduled review.
Note 3: As of November 2014, following the implementation of the Integrated Decision System, the workload no longer includes decisions related to case management (administrative adjournment, postponement accepted/rejected, withdrawal accepted/rejected and panel hearing ordered). The year 2014/15 includes one such review conducted prior to November 2014.

Table 39. Delays and Cancellations

Note: Postponement cases in 2013/14 and 2014/15 include decisions where the postponement accepted decision was recorded as the final decision and cases where the postponement decision was entered as a decision status.