Province tinkers with definition of recidivism

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/01/2012 (5087 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Progressive Conservatives said Wednesday the NDP has quietly changed its definition of recidivism to artificially lower the rate at which Manitoba criminals reoffend.

But Attorney General Andrew Swan said the wording was changed to more closely reflect how Ottawa measures the reoffence rate.

“It’s really intended to answer the question people ask: ‘What percentage of people are going to get in trouble again,’ ” Swan said. “The youth numbers are still high. The adult numbers, they look rational, in a word.”

The difference hinges on two words: “charged” and “convicted.” Under the old system, offenders who were charged with a criminal offence two years after release from a provincial jail counted toward the recidivism rate. Under the new system, the rate is calculated by how many offenders are convicted of a crime two years after release.

Tory justice critic Kelvin Goertzen said that means the recidivism rate will be considerably lower than in the past as it can take months if not years for a criminal case to get to court and see a conviction.

“It’s magically reduced our reoffence rate by 30 per cent overnight,” he said.

Goertzen said the province has to do more to rehabilitate offenders while in jail to properly reduce recidivism.

“The guards will tell you they’re frustrated,” he said. “They’re essentially babysitting people for two years and they’re walking out without nothing having changed.”

Under the old system, the recidivism rate for young offenders was as high as 90 per cent. The province’s recidivism rate for adults who have served jail time was 71 per cent.

Under the new system, the youth reoffence rate hovers between 50 and 60 per cent and the adult rate is less than 30 per cent.

The province also now puts that information online at www.gov.mb.ca/justice/criminal/corrections/index.html#recidivism

Swan said the youth number is high because of efforts to crack down on auto theft and lock up more young car thieves or put them under community supervision, where many breach their court orders.

“We’re just changing it to be more realistic,” Swan said. “We still have to be accountable for what happens.”

Swan is wrapping up two days of meetings in Charlottetown with his federal and provincial justice counterparts. He said for the most part they welcomed Manitoba’s initiatives to have home invasions, carjackings and premeditated knife crimes recognized as federal crimes. Swan also wants federal offences for criminals who use body armour and armoured vehicles.

Swan wants Ottawa to boost funding for legal aid and to expand federal support for drug treatment courts, already in place in Manitoba, that address addiction issues rather than penalizing people. Both may be included in the next federal budget.

“The recidivism rate out of the drug treatment court is only about 11 per cent, so if you take a look at all the statistics you’ll see it is even better than anything else we have in our system,” he said.

bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca