Good afternoon, Mr. Chairperson and members of the committee.
The Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime, or CRCVC, is a national non-profit victim advocacy group for crime victims. We provide direct assistance to crime victims dealing with the criminal justice system as well as advocate for justice reform to better protect their rights and prevent victimization.
The CRCVC is pleased to take part in the debate over Bill C-9 . The proposed change to section 742.1 of the Criminal Code will address concerns that victims of serious and violent crime have expressed to our organization on numerous occasions. These concerns predominantly surround the distress and unease that they feel when they see offenders, not only those who perpetrated their own victimization but also those who commit other serious crimes, sentenced to house arrest, penalties that are not proportionate to the gravity of the offence committed. We believe that the elimination of access to conditional sentences for serious and/or violent crime addresses some of these concerns.
Conditional sentences were introduced in 1996 and allowed for certain sentences of imprisonment to be served in the community or under house arrest. These sentences are neither incarceration nor probation, but fall in between the two. The theory behind the sentencing provisions was that offenders who commit less serious non-violent offences may serve their sentence in the community, avoiding incarceration. They remain under supervision and have restrictions on their freedom and mobility. Conditional sentencing provisions do achieve this end, but some offenders have been receiving conditional sentences for more serious offences, including serious assaults, sexual assaults, and driving offences that result in death or serious harm.
As you're aware, there are several criteria that must be met for an offender to be eligible for a conditional sentence; these are set out in the provisions from 1996. We have seen that these criteria have not sufficiently restricted access to conditional sentences for the offenders who commit the serious and violent offences, who include repeat offenders.
Bill C-9 seeks to address this discrepancy by adding another restriction, focusing on the type of crime that is eligible for house arrest. The amendment to section 742.1 provides that offences tried by way of indictment for which the maximum term of imprisonment is ten years or more are ineligible for a conditional sentence. As such, the CRCVC supports the underlying goal of Bill C-9, but has reservations that the criteria for eliminating access to conditional sentences--that the offence carry a maximum term of imprisonment of ten years or more and be tried by indictment--will leave certain serious and/or violent offences still eligible for a conditional sentence. It also leaves hybrid offences that are ineligible for house arrest if tried by indictment eligible if tried summarily. These offences include sexual assault and criminal harassment.
The CRCVC believes that serious and/or violent offences, especially those that victimize children or other vulnerable people, should not be eligible for a conditional sentence. Of particular concern to our organization are sexual offences. Unfortunately, the ten-year maximum term rule that this bill proposes would not restrict offenders convicted of the following offences from receiving conditional sentences if they met the other criteria: removal of a child from Canada, section 273.3; sexual exploitation, section 153; sexual exploitation of a person with a disability, subsection 153.1(1); voyeurism, section 162; duty to provide necessities, section 215; abandoning a child, section 218; luring a child, section 172.1; abducting a person under 16, section 280. We believe that the above-noted offences are serious and often violent in nature, and therefore the offenders who commit them should not be allowed to serve their sentence under limited supervision within the community.
According to the legislative summary provided on Bill C-9, the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics estimates that the average cost of supervising an offender in the community in 2002-03 was $1,792. We question how effective that supervision is for the offenders, given that the figure equates with less than $5 per day spent supervising any given offender.
Given that supervision of these offenders is carried out by probation and parole officers who are overworked and come from understaffed offices, it is unlikely that the supervision is very effective for those offenders. We also question the effectiveness of that supervision for certain types of offences and restrictions--for example, the concerns mentioned above and the almost limitless ways that individuals can access the Internet. How is a probation officer to ensure that a sex offender who is not permitted to access the Internet is not doing so when he is not supervised?
Like those offences covered by Bill C-9, the offences we list above often have lasting physical and emotional consequences for their victims. Failing to include them on the list of those offences no longer eligible for conditional sentence minimizes the impact of these crimes and is a failure to address the gravity of these offences. There are numerous offences for which conditional sentences and the associated level of supervision that would be attached to the sentence are appropriate. Research has shown that victims support this view; they do not, however, support conditional sentences for violent offences. We echo that position.
Proponents of conditional sentences maintain that they are a necessary component of the restorative justice process. Restricting the proposed offences from eligibility for conditional sentence does not mean that there is no hope for restorative justice in these cases. Restorative justice principles do not advocate for the reduction of incarceration to facilitate the restorative justice process. Restorative justice is about ensuring that the victim's needs are both heard and addressed.
The CRCVC feels that the provisions for conditional sentencing, as introduced in 1996, have resulted in far too many violent criminals receiving sentences that are too lenient when compared to the impact of their offences. This is not the intent of the provisions. Bill C-9 begins to address this imbalance, and we support the bill in principle. We feel that the proposal can be strengthened so that crimes that are violent and serious in nature, which currently fall outside of its scope, may be included in the legislative change. Adopting a scheme that includes a list of offences that encompasses both those that fall within its scope and those that we feel should be included will serve to limit the applicability of conditional sentencing options to those offences for which the provisions were originally intended.
We would therefore recommend that the following changes be made with respect to Bill C-9.
We recommend it be amended to include the following offences, which I listed earlier: removal of a child from Canada; sexual exploitation; sexual exploitation of a child with a disability; voyeurism; duty to provide necessities; abandoning a child; luring a child; abducting a person under 16; and other serious and violent offences.
We recommend that BillC-9 be amended such that the list of offences that are ineligible for conditional sentence be specified in a schedule rather than the current method proposed by the bill. This would allow for the inclusion of offences not included and the exclusion of those offences for which a conditional sentence is appropriate. And we recommend that the amended legislation be passed by Parliament without delay.
Thank you for the opportunity.