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2003/04 Annual Service Plan Report
Ministry of Attorney General and
Minister Responsible for Treaty Negotiations
Appendix B: Former Goals, Objectives, Strategies and Measures No Longer Employed by Prosecution Services
Following the publication of the 2003/04 Service Plan, a significant review of Prosecution Services' goals (shared ministry goals), objectives, strategies and performance measures took place. A special committee, set up within the Criminal Justice Branch, guided this effort. All modifications were intended to improve service planning and performance reporting and enable greater accountability. The work has resulted in a new, more relevant single goal and new objectives, strategies and measures.
The special committee rephrased the goal to reflect more accurately the responsibilities of Prosecution Services in relation to the mandate outlined in the Crown Counsel Act. Since objectives, strategies and performance measures flow logically from goals, the supporting objectives and strategies were changed to align with the restated goal. In this same chain of events, the performance measures were also changed to coincide with the new goal and objectives.
Below are the new and former goals with their related objectives, strategies and performance measures. In addition, the table shows why the measures that are no longer in use were inappropriate.
New Goals from the 2004/05 Service Plan
(Currently employed by Prosecution Services)
2003/04 Service Plan
(No longer employed by Prosecution Services) |
New Goal: Prosecution of all offences is timely, fair and effective.
New Key Objective
1. Timely charge assessment where there is police process and no police process.
[Amendments were made to the JUSTIN database to ensure the measures would be available in fiscal year 2004/05. When valid and reliable baseline measures are available, targets for the succeeding fiscal years will be determined.]
| New Performance Measure: |
2002/03 Estimate |
2003/04 Target |
Elapsed time to conduct charge assessment where police have issued process and not issued process
|
Data not available |
Data not available |
| Testing was conducted on the JUSTIN database in 2003/04 to determine if these measures were available and to assess the reliability and validity of the measures. Results were that the measures were not available for 2003/04. |
New Key Objective and Strategy
2. A fair and effective charge assessment process
Strategy for objectives 1 and 2:
- Conduct in a timely manner pre-charge screening following receipt of the investigative report (Report to Crown Counsel).
| New Performance Measure: |
2002/03 Estimate |
2003/04 Target |
| Proportion of accused persons who were screened out of the court process by Crown counsel |
17% |
17%
(Bench-mark)
|
| This measure is considered a proxy measure of the objective since it implies fairness and effectiveness by monitoring the percentage of accused who are screened out of the court process after undergoing rigorous and thorough charge assessment. |
New Key Objective and Strategy
3. Timely conduct of prosecutions
- Contribute to the timeliness of prosecuting criminal matters by promptly providing disclosure documents and the initial sentencing position.
| New Performance Measures: |
2002/03 Estimate |
2003/04 Target |
| Elapsed time to provide disclosure and initial sentencing position |
Not
available |
Not
available
|
| TEMPORARY PROXY MEASURES in the absence of the measure above |
| Median time to disposition from the date the first information was sworn |
|
121 days |
| Median time to disposition from the date of the first court appearance |
|
86 days |
| Until the elapsed time to provide disclosure and initial sentencing position becomes available, two other measures will be used as proxies (substitutes). The two temporary proxy measures represent a less direct way to monitor timely conduct of prosecutions. These proxy measures represent the cumulative actions of the many justice participants involved in a shared process and are not exclusively controlled by Prosecution Services. |
New Key Objective and Strategies
4. Fair and effective conduct of prosecutions
- Reduce unnecessary distress, cost and inconvenience to witnesses, victims and their families.
- Balance the interests of the accused, the witnesses, victims and the public.
- Monitor any developments in the available evidence, and ensure that, if the case no longer meets the charge assessment criteria, the Crown will stay the proceedings.
- Disclose new material to the accused when received by Crown counsel, including victim impact information; and ensure that Crown prosecutorial discretion is guided by policy and corresponding case law.
The fourth objective for this business area
— fair and effective conduct of prosecutions
— requires a balanced consideration of the interests of the accused, the witnesses, the victims, the families and the public. Measuring fairness, however, is a challenge facing every justice system. Many jurisdictions, including British Columbia, are working to resolve the complexities of measuring this concept. Currently there are no benchmarks available from other jurisdictions.
Information on both fairness and effectiveness is not currently available in the ministry's JUSTIN database. The Criminal Justice Branch will continue to pursue avenues to acquire the measure by requesting changes to the JUSTIN database. When measures of fairness and effectiveness are developed, they will capture many routine functions that Crown counsel perform to ensure fair, effective prosecutions. A special ministry sub-committee on performance measures will address these issues in 2004/05.
Former Shared Ministry Goals from the
2003/04 Service Plan
(No longer employed by Prosecution Services) |
Former Shared Goal 1: Laws and justice services are administered fairly, equitably and efficiently to all British Columbians, while individual rights and judicial independence are protected.
Former Key Objective and Strategies
1. Process criminal cases in a timely and efficient manner in all three levels of court.
- Conduct charge assessments of allegations of criminal offences
| Former Performance Measure: |
2002/03 Estimate |
2003/04 Target |
| Per cent of total accused persons approved to court for trial |
87.0% |
86.5%
|
| This measure is within the span of control of Prosecution Services and one that is tracked on a regular basis for the internal management of the Criminal Justice Branch. For the new goals, a variant of this measure "Proportion of accused persons who were screened out of the court process by Crown counsel" will be used. The measure is considered a proxy measure of the new objective since it implies fairness and effectiveness by monitoring the percentage of accused who are screened out of the court process. |
- Increase appropriate referrals to alternative measures programs
| Former Performance Measures: |
2002/03 Estimate |
2003/04 Target |
| Number of total accused persons referred to alternative measures programs by Crown counsel |
6,313 |
6,400
|
| Percentage of total accused persons referred to alternative measures programs |
7.8% |
8.3% |
| Data validation tests showed that these two measures and their targets were not within the span of control of Prosecution Services; therefore any reported achievement of this measure would not have been an accurate representation of the actual performance of Prosecution Services. |
- Use victim statements/information at sentencing where appropriate
| Former Performance Measures: |
2002/03 Estimate |
2003/04 Target |
| Percentage of Victim Impact Statements received and used at sentencing |
40% |
45%
|
| Percentage of total Victims of Crime Act victims who were contacted and given opportunity to provide a victim impact statement |
93% |
93% |
| This measure is within the span of control of Prosecution Services and one that is tracked on a regular basis for the internal management of the Criminal Justice Branch. However, this measure was not found to be the most significant or relevant performance measure in relation to the new goal, objectives and strategies. |
Former Shared Goal 2:
Citizens and communities of British Columbia receive protection from crime and its social and economic consequences.
Former Key Objective
2. Protect the community from high-risk and violent offenders by making dangerous offender, long-term offender and recognizance applications where appropriate
| Former Performance Measure: |
2002/03 Estimate |
2003/04 Target |
| Number of dangerous offender applications made |
18 |
18
|
| Data validation tests showed that this measure is not within the span of control of Prosecution Services; therefore any reported achievement of this measure would not have been an accurate representation of the actual performance of Prosecution Services. This measure reflects intake; hence, it is not a true performance measure. |
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