New Court Model Finally Addresses Underlying Social Issues

We often hear influential opposition, activist and special interest groups speak mellifluous rhetoric calling on the government to solve the underlying social issues responsible for creating crime instead of simply penalizing more severely. Everyone knows that the true solutions to crime start with treating poverty, homelessness, addiction, mental illness, and the multitude of other influences.

The fact is that governments typically focus on solutions that will appear to have the greatest impact over a four year term while sacrificing real solutions because historically, without some visible changes in an electoral term, they won’t be around after that if they have nothing to show us. It is really the catch-22 of politics; any real change requires solutions with no immediate visible result, public outcry and no re-election yet band-aid solutions can get you re-elected (at least once) but provides no real solutions.

It’s like impulse voting. We elect our government based on instant gratification not sustainable policy. We’re like the addict just waiting for the next big hit while we sacrifice our future one quick pseudo solution at a time. Sometimes it seems like we set our own governments up for failure.

One new idea seems to be swimming up the proverbial political stream.

Projected to open in early 2008 is the new Vancouver Downtown Community Court. A first of its kind in BC, this justice initiative is intended to truly be the community’s court. It is envisioned as a major part of the solution to the crime problems of the Vancouver downtown core.

How is another justice initiative going to be different then typical band-aid solutions?

It sounds suspect…

This one really is different though…

Currently most offenders in the downtown core are repeat offenders. They are arrested multiple times each year and significantly affect the lives of all members of the community. The resources required to administer justice really outweigh the lack of effectiveness. These offenders are typically struggling with significant multiple barriers to being contributing member of the community. Many are immersed in poverty, homelessness, addiction, mental illness, a lack of employability skills and the list goes on. They are the ones referred to when we say “we need to find solutions to the contributing social issues to crime.”

Not only does it cost us in the delivery of justice but in most cases the same people are drawing on the social services coffers too. Traditionally, the cooperation between the justice system and all of the organizations and agencies is quite lacking. With such large gaps stemming from no collaboration it is no wonder so many fall through the cracks.

What is the difference with this Community Court? This court will see justice, health and social services coming together in an integrated case management model. They will work with a problem-solving approach; these services will provide a drastic improvement to our response to crime and subsequently to poverty.

Focusing on the big three (poverty, addiction and mental illness) this new endeavor will see three major benefits.

The first is a large increase in effectiveness and efficiency in the use of justice, health and social services. Better collaboration and integration of service delivery will allow resolutions to be developed on an individual basis. It will make available a far more complete solution that is centered on fostering the offender’s success.

Swifter resolutions as a result of efficient case management will lead to fewer court appearances. It will also provide the offender with solutions to their underlying needs quicker in a time when the window of their willingness to accept help is short. For the community, this second benefit will be visible by swifter accountability.

Innovative and solution focused sentencing will take into account the offender’s background, criminal history, health and social service needs. The real meat of sentencing will be in the method of significantly changing criminal behavior through balancing treatment of the underlying causes of crime wile also tackling the crime itself. This third benefit is really where we can see the attractiveness of this new initiative.

The court will not focus on big ticket federal offences. Most of what it will address is the offences that typically would be handled by provincial court. These crimes are pretty diverse and include property crimes, assaults, street dealing, etc.

Working together in support of the Vancouver Downtown Community Court will be:

• The provincial judiciary
• Ministry of Attorney General
• Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General
• Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance
• Legal Services Society
• Vancouver Coastal Health
• Forensic Psychiatric Services Commission
• BC Housing
• Public Prosecution Service of Canada
• Vancouver Police Department and
• The Defence Bar

This new initiative has instilled in me a whole lot of faith that government can find long term, creative and innovative solutions to social issues. Every human being has deep intrinsic worth and we as a community are responsible for recognizing this and nurturing in fellow members of our community. Justice is nothing without forgiveness and by coming together to solve an individual’s social issues we can begin to recognize true equality and inclusively while developing strong communities. By allowing the community to get involved in building real solutions to their local issues we can see true sustainability.