Conditional Release and Performance – Appeals

Official Title: Performance Monitoring Report 2018-2019, Conditional Release and Performance – Appeals
From: Parole Board of Canada

Appeals

Tables 147-154

Within the Board, the Appeal Division is responsible for re-examining, upon application by an offender, certain decisions made by the Board.

The Appeal Division's role is to ensure that the law and the Board’s policies are respected, that the rules of fundamental justice are adhered to, and that Board decisions are reasonable and based upon reliable and persuasive information. It reviews the decision-making process to confirm that it was fair and that procedural safeguards were respected.

Appeal Applications

• In 2018-19, the Appeal Division received a total of 505 applications to appeal federal and provincial conditional release decisions and accepted 441 applications for processing for an acceptance rate of 87%.
• The number of federal appeal applications received in 2018-19 increased in the Atlantic (+9; to 39), Ontario (+17; to 141), Prairie (+7; to 116) and Pacific (+3; to 77) regions and decreased in the Quebec (-3; to 115) region when compared to the previous year.
• The number of provincial appeal applications received in 2018-19 increased in the Pacific region (+3; to 12) and decreased in the Atlantic (-3; to 0) and the Prairie (-2; to 5) regions when compared to the previous year.
• Of the 425 federal appeal applications accepted for processing in 2018-19, 10 were cancelled and one was withdrawn, leaving 414 federal applications to be processed. Of the 16 provincial appeal applications accepted for processing, one was withdrawn, leaving 15 applications to be processed.

Appeal Decisions

• In 2018-19, the Appeal Division rendered 534 decisions on 403 cases.
• The Appeal Division modified the decision in 86 appeal cases which resulted in a new hearing/review ordered in 76 cases and modified special conditions in 10 cases.

Appeal Decision Trends

• In 2018-19, the number of federal appeal decisions rendered by the Board increased to 511 (+14%), and the number of provincial appeal decisions decreased to 23 (from 31) when compared to the previous year.
• In 2018-19, the Board rendered more federal day parole (+13%) and full parole (+34%) appeal decisions and fewer statutory release (-10%) appeal decisions compared to the previous year. Detention appeal decisions decreased from 18 to 16, UTA appeal decisions increased from 11 to 23, and ETA appeal decisions increased from 12 to 15.
• The same proportion of ETA and day parole appeal decisions were rendered in 2018-19, accounting for 3% and 40% of all federal appeal decisions when compared to 2017-18. Increases in the proportions were reported in 2018-19 for UTA (to 5%; +2%), and full parole (to 29%; +4%), while decreases were reported for statutory release (to 20%; -6%) and detention (to 3%; -1%).
• Compared to the previous year, the proportion of federal appeal decisions remained relatively the same for all offender groups. Offenders serving sentences for sexual offences accounted for 18% of all federal appeal decisions in 2018-19, compared to 52% for offenders serving sentences violent offences and 30% for offenders serving sentences non-violent offences.
• Of the 511 federal appeal decisions rendered in 2018-19, 78% of the initial decisions were affirmed, in 19% of cases a new review/hearing was ordered and in 2% of cases a change of condition was ordered. By comparison, in 2017-18, 76% of federal initial decisions appealed were affirmed, a new review/hearing was ordered in 21% of cases, a change of condition was ordered in 2% cases and in one case a decision was altered.
• Of the 23 provincial appeal decisions rendered in 2018-19, 16 initial decisions were affirmed (70%) and a new review/hearing was ordered in seven cases (30%).
• In 2018-19, 88% of all federal decisions rendered by the Board were appealable, the same rate as in 2017-18. The number of appealable decisions in 2018-19 increased 3% (to 19,155).
• In 2018-19, the federal appeal rate remained relatively stable at 2.7% compared to the previous year’s rate of 2.4%. Escorted temporary absence and detention decisions were the most likely to be appealed, while statutory release decisions were the least likely to be appealed.
• The provincial appeal rate remained relatively stable at 3.0% in 2018-19 compared to 3.7% in 2017-18. Among provincial appeals, day parole and full parole release decisions have approximately the same likelihood of being appealed (3.0% and 2.8% respectively).

Note: More than one decision can be appealed per application.

*Includes an appeal decision to alter a release decision.

¹ Includes one appeal decision to alter an original release decision.

² Includes a detention appeal decision for an offender who was serving a federal sentence, which was reduced by a court order.

¹ Includes a statutory release and a detention appealable decision for an offender who was serving a federal sentence, which was reduced by a court order.

² Includes a detention appeal decision for an offender who was serving a federal sentence, which was reduced by a court order.