Provincial Court (Criminal Division) delay reduction pilot projects: an assessment

226 Pages·1991·7.6 MB·English

by  Dawson, Nancy|Ontario. Ministry of the Attorney General.|Ontario. Provincial Court (Criminal Division). Delay Reduction Project

PROVINCIAL COURT (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
DELAY REDUCTION PILOT PROJECTS
AN ASSESSMENT
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REDUCTION PILOT PROJECTS
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PROVINCIAL COURT (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
DELAY REDUCTION PILOT PROJECTS
AN ASSESSMENT
MINISTRY OF THE
ATTORNEY GENERAL
LAW LIBRARY
Nancy Dawson
Delay Reduction Project
March 20, 1991
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INDEX
TAB A PAGE
Introduction 1
Rationale for delay reduction 2
Causes of delay 3
Key elements of delay reduction 5
TAB B
Resources 15
TAB C
Pilot project results 17
Initiatives in pilot projects 21
Detailed discussion of successful
delay reduction initiatives in pilot sites 22
Material available 38
TAB D
Appendix A
o Attorney General press releases
TAB E
Appendix B
o Provincial Court statistics for the six pilot projects
TAB F
Appendix C
o Point form history of initiatives
TAB G
Appendix D
o Practice directions
TAB H
Appendix E
o Notices to accused
TAB I
Appendix F
o "RE: Victim/Accused Pre-trial Conferences"
TAB J
Appendix G
Chart: Trial time estimates and actual lengths
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DELAY REDUCTION PILOT PROJECTS
AN ASSESSMENT
INTRODUCTION
In 1988, the Ministry of the Attorney General created a
delay reduction pilot project to deal with lengthy court delays in
scheduling trials in the Provincial Court (Criminal Division). The
courts were overburdened with cases. Criminal trials were not
being reached for over a year. Cases were being remanded to new
trial dates when they were not heard on the date set for trial due
to the overcrowding of the courts. Cases were being terminated due
to delays that were held to be infringing the accused's rights to
a trial without unreasonable delay as guaranteed by the Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Often, the courts were not aware
of what the accused intended to do regarding his case until the
trial date itself.
Originally a part of the Court Reform Task Force, the
project and delay reduction province-wide is now the responsibility
of Courts Administration. The initial project encompassed six
pilot projects in the Provincial Court (Criminal Division). These
projects are located in Ottawa, Peel Region (Brampton), Simcoe
Region (Barrie), Durham Region (Oshawa), Scarborough, and York
Region (Newmarket).
The focus of these projects was to reduce the delay in
getting matters to trial and to improve the effective utilization
of the court through the use of caseflow management techniques.
Caseflow management techniques have been extremely successful in
a number of jurisdictions in the United States.
Each pilot project had a committee comprised of judges.
Crown Attorneys, courts administrators, Legal Aid, defence counsel,
the police, and a trial co-ordinator. Many committees had a
federal prosecutor as a member as well. The committees were
created in the fall of 1988.
These committees met on a monthly basis to discuss
matters of caseflow management in their system. Methods of
reducing delay were discussed along with potential solutions. A
number of innovative procedures and programmes have resulted from
these meetings. The committees, through co-operative management,
were able to improve their efficiency.
As a result of increasing delays province-wide in a
number of jurisdictions, the decision was made to expand the
programme and commence delay reduction techniques on a