Mr. Speaker, I am glad that the bill tabled by the hon. member gives us an opportunity to address important issues central to the efforts to make Canadians safer.
We clearly need effective measures to reduce the crime rate, especially violent crime. The government is moving in that direction, as its recent legislative initiatives demonstrate. Its actions in other areas are just as important.
Today I would like to go over the progress the government has been making on the important issues of risk assessment and the treatment of offenders to better protect people in the long term.
But first I would like to consider for a few moments the situation now prevailing in federal penitentiaries, particularly the effectiveness of imprisonment as punishment. As we all know, Canada has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, around 130 per 100,000 people on average. The number of offenders under federal responsibility has risen rapidly in the last five years. The annual increase jumped from 1.6 per cent in 1989-90 to 4 per cent in 1993-94. A 5.1 per cent increase is forecast for next year. Keep in mind that this increase is occurring at a time when federal correctional services face substantial budget cuts.
In this era of fiscal restraint, we must remember that incarceration is extremely expensive, much more in fact than the supervision of offenders in the community. It costs Canadian taxpayers $47,760 a year on average to keep an offender in jail compared with only $9,400 to keep him under supervision in society for the same period of time.
We must therefore resort to incarceration only to the extent necessary to protect the public. While it is true that some offenders must be jailed for a long time in the interest of the public, the fact remains that the vast majority of criminals serve definite sentences and that most of them can be released without danger to society, provided they receive appropriate treatment and are under adequate supervision.
Parliament recognized this reality when it passed the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, which favours using the least restrictive measures without jeopardizing public safety.
Conditional release under the Corrections and Conditional Release Act is effective in protecting the public. While I do not desire to minimize certain tragic incidents, released offenders are not becoming more dangerous.
Although this perception may result from media reports on crime, statistics simply do not support this position. For example, in 1991 only 1 per cent of admissions to federal custody were the result of a new violent offence committed while on release. Indeed, keeping offenders in prison longer instead of gradually integrating them into the community may in fact increase public risk over the long term.
Research evidence shows that strictly punitive measures which result in longer terms of incarceration have little deterrent effect on serious offenders and do not lead to a reduction in reoffending.
I believe that the key to improving public protection lies in our ability to develop effective treatment programs and to effectively assess offenders in their ability to benefit from treatment and the level of risk they present to the community.
The research strongly supports this approach. Risk which one could define as a likelihood that an offender will engage in dangerous behaviour upon release is the overriding consideration of correctional authorities and parole board members.
Because of its central importance to the correctional process risk is managed and assessed throughout an offender's sentence. In brief, risk is managed by identifying factors that contribute to an offender's criminal behaviour, determining an offender's treatment and program needs, developing correctional plans that address these needs, matching treatment programs and services to the needs and risk level of the offender, and providing the necessary level of custody.
It is on the basis of risk assessment that offenders are moved from higher security to lower security and eventually considered for conditional release on the basis of their changing level of risk.
Prediction of human behaviour is not a perfect science nor will it ever be. However, the effectiveness of the tools that have been developed to assist professionals in assessing offenders have improved dramatically over the past few years.
Efforts continue to be made to improve the system's capacity to monitor changes in an offender's behaviour, situation, and circumstances which are clearly related to the likelihood of further criminal behaviour. Today we have a much better understanding of what factors may be valid risk predictors. Over time our capacity to better distinguish between high and low risk offenders will continue to improve.
I would also like to bring to the attention of hon. members that individual offenders who at one time represented a high public risk can with appropriate treatment both in an institution and in the community be safely released to the community.
There is a growing body of research pointing to the rehabilitative potential of well formulated research based treatment programming. Some things do work.
Correctional Service Canada has invested a lot of time and money to develop programs with a proven record as regards their usefulness to help reduce the number of repeat offenders. Based on these data, the service designed and implemented a number of programs to meet the various needs of the federal inmate population. Here are some of them.
An education program has been established. According to a classification test, about 80 per cent of offenders under federal jurisdiction have less than a grade 10 level of education when they are admitted. This low level is a major obstacle in their rehabilitation, because it greatly affects their chances of finding work.
A treatment program was instituted for sex offenders. At the end of last year, 17 per cent of the inmates in federal penitentiaries were classified as sex offenders. The correctional service now has more ways of meeting their needs and can offer treatment to nearly 1,800 such offenders every year, compared to 200 in 1988.
A program aimed at developing cognitive abilities was created in 1989 to help offenders alter their modes of thought which lead to criminal behaviour. The program is offered in 71 locations and the number of participants has increased from 50 to over 3,000.
The correctional service also offers a drug treatment program to nearly 5,000 inmates and to roughly 1,800 people in the community. It endeavours to ensure that programs are geared to the different needs of offenders.
Another initiative is the program for native offenders. While natives account for only 3 per cent of Canada's population, they represent up to 12 per cent of the federal inmate population. Studies have shown that native inmates are more receptive to programs that are specifically designed for them and the Correctional Service is working to increase the number of such programs.
A program aimed at helping offenders with mental disorders has also been established. According to a survey of the federal inmate population covering the past four years, a significant proportion of inmates suffer from acute psychosis, depression or anxiety. Since there is a definite need, in the years to come it will be vital to establish appropriate evaluation services, various types of specialized care in institutions and support programs in the community.
A family violence initiative has been taken. Research has shown that federal offenders are very likely to commit acts of violence within their family, especially those who abuse or have previously abused family members, who have committed assault in the past or are judged to be very likely to commit abuse. Community pilot projects for the evaluation and treatment of these offenders have already been set up in a number of cities, the necessary resources are being assembled to be able to treat 300 offenders, compared with 100 in 1992-93.
In concluding, I want to emphasize the importance of risk evaluation methods and therapy programs in achieving our main objective, which is to protect the public.