x
Home
Search
Topics
Almanac
Science
Nature
People
History
Society
Signup
Login
HOME
TOPICS
ALMANAC
SCIENCE
NATURE
PEOPLE
HISTORY
SOCIETY
PHILOSOPHY
National Parole Board of Canada
Topic Home
Discussion
0
Encyclopedia
The Parole Board of Canada (formerly known as the National Parole Board) is a Canadian government agency
Government agency
A government or state agency is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an intelligence agency. There is a notable variety of agency types...

 that operates under the auspices of Public Safety Canada.

The National Parole Board was created in 1959 under the Parole Act. The Board primarily deals with the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, Criminal Records Act
Criminal Records Act
The Criminal Records Act is an Act to provide for the relief of persons who have been convicted of offences and have subsequently rehabilitated themselves.- External links :*...

 and the
Criminal Code of Canada
Criminal Code of Canada
The Criminal Code or Code criminel is a law that codifies most criminal offences and procedures in Canada. Its official long title is "An Act respecting the criminal law"...

.

It is an independent administrative
Administrative law
Administrative law is the body of law that governs the activities of administrative agencies of government. Government agency action can include rulemaking, adjudication, or the enforcement of a specific regulatory agenda. Administrative law is considered a branch of public law...

 tribunal
Tribunal
A tribunal in the general sense is any person or institution with the authority to judge, adjudicate on, or determine claims or disputes—whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title....

 that has the exclusive authority under the Corrections and Conditional Release Act to grant, deny, cancel, terminate or revoke day parole and full parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...

. In addition, the Board is also responsible for making decisions to grant, deny and revoke pardons under the Criminal Records Act and the Criminal Code of Canada.

The head of the NPB is a Chairperson who reports to Parliament
Parliament of Canada
The Parliament of Canada is the federal legislative branch of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in the national capital, Ottawa. Formally, the body consists of the Canadian monarch—represented by her governor general—the Senate, and the House of Commons, each element having its own officers and...

 through the Minister of Public Safety. As an independent agency, the Minister does not direct the operations of the NPB.

The annual budget of the NPB is $
Canadian dollar
The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...

43 million and the headquarters are located in Ottawa, Ontario
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

 with other offices in Moncton, New Brunswick, Montreal, Quebec
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, Kingston, Ontario
Kingston, Ontario
Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...

, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Saskatoon
Saskatoon is a city in central Saskatchewan, Canada, on the South Saskatchewan River. Residents of the city of Saskatoon are called Saskatonians. The city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Corman Park No. 344....

, Abbotsford, British Columbia
Abbotsford, British Columbia
Abbotsford is a Canadian city located in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, adjacent to Greater Vancouver. It is the fifth largest municipality in British Columbia, home to 123,864 people . Its Census Metropolitan Area, which includes the District of Mission, is the 23rd largest in Canada,...

 and Edmonton, Alberta
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...

.

Under the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, which governs federal corrections, provinces and territories may establish their own parole boards for offenders sentenced to a term of incarceration of less than two years. Only two provinces now have their own parole boards: Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 and Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

.

In Canada, it is not a criminal offence to breach parole. Although warrants are put out for parole absconders, they are often not found until they are arrested for another crime.http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1036533023878_6/?hub=WFive

Parole in Canada

Parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...

 is an option available to all offenders since Canada does not have a life sentence without parole option. The offender will have to spend a prescribed amount of time in custody, depending on the offence. For the vast majority of offences, that period is one third of the total sentence imposed.http://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/C-44.6/page-2.html#anchorbo-ga:l_II-gb:s_119 Parole is not automatic. The parole board in deciding whether to grant parole must consider, first and foremost, the protection of the public; secondary considerations are reinegration, rehabiliation and compassion.http://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/C-44.6/page-2.html#anchorbo-ga:l_II-gb:s_100 Eligibility for parole is between 10 and 25 years for murder and 7 years for other life sentences or indeterminate sentences.

Criticism and controversy

The National Parole Board has been criticized for its perceived lack of judgment in the handling of certain cases. Notable examples include:
  • Conrad Brossard was serving two life sentences for a murder as well as two attempted murders, each of which was committed after being granted day parole. In 2002, the parole board granted Brossard day parole again, during which he raped and murdered Cecile Clement. An internal review of the Brossard case prepared by the National Parole Board and the Correctional Service of Canada
    Correctional Service of Canada
    The Correctional Service of Canada , or CSC, is the Canadian federal government agency responsible for the incarceration and rehabilitation of convicted criminal offenders sentenced to two years or more...

     stated that "the board does not have any criticism to make with respect to the general management of Brossard's correctional plan." Pierre Etoile, Clement's son-in-law, criticized the parole board, stating that "They tell us in this report that everything is wonderful, no one did anything wrong. Except my family is still grieving." Marc LaPierre, one of Brossard's previous victims, also criticized the parole board,

  • Larry Takahashi received three concurrent life sentences in 1984 for sexually assaulting seven women (he was subsequently dubbed the Balaclava Rapist). In 1997, he admitted to attacking over 30 women and is suspected by police in 120 attacks. In 2003, Larry Takahashi was granted parole despite his own admission that he was at risk to re-offend. Randy White
    Randy White (politician)
    Randy White is an accountant and former Canadian politician.White was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons as theReform Party Member of Parliament for...

    , a MP from the then Canadian Alliance, strongly criticized the parole board for releasing Takahashi, stating that "Is there something I don’t understand about protection of the public?" It was also noted that Takahashi's victims will not be told where he will live during his parole because of federal privacy laws. In 2005, it was reported that Takahashi had repeatedly violated his parole by drinking, lying to his parole officer, and socializing with other sex offenders. His parole was subsequently revoked.

  • Eric Norman Fish was released to a half-way house in 2004 in Vernon, British Columbia
    Vernon, British Columbia
    Vernon is a city in the south-central region of British Columbia, Canada. Named after Forbes George Vernon, a former MLA of British Columbia who helped found the famed Coldstream Ranch, the City of Vernon was incorporated on December 30, 1892. The City of Vernon has a population of 35,944 , while...

    . Fish had been serving a life sentence for a 1984 murder and had been deemed by the Parole Board to be a "high-risk to violently re-offend." Fish walked away from the half-way house and over a period of six weeks murdered two people; Jeffrey Drake, whose body was found on the shore of Okanagan Lake, and Bill Abramenko, a 75-year-old retired carpenter, who Fish beat to death with a crowbar. Public outrage led to the closing of the halfway house where Fish stayed, However, Abramenko's wife, Gladys stated that "The problem doesn't start with the Howard House. It starts with the National Parole Board. I think there should be a grand public inquiry — nothing hushed up." At a subsequent news conference, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
    Royal Canadian Mounted Police
    The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...

     admitted that during the six weeks Fish was at large, no alert was issued by police or the parole board. Fish's arrest ignited a national debate on the role of the National Parole Board.






  • Kevin Humphrey was granted paroled despite being sentenced to life for robbing and murdering a man in 1983 before fleeing the country. Despite three previous parole violations, Humphrey was paroled again in 2006. In October of that year, Humphrey stabbed Richard Kent multiple times with a folding knife and then slit his throat in a crack house. Although Kent survived, he still has brain injury symptoms and memory problems.http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/296319


  • Chad Bucknell was granted day parole in 2002, only 6 years after he received a life sentence for murdering four people. Bucknell subsequently disappeared until he was recaptured in 2004. Bucknell was granted parole again in 2006 and had so far not been re-arrested.http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008/01/12/4768897-cp.html



The NPB defends its record, noting that between 1995 and 2000, more than 70% of 11,466 offenders released on full parole completed their sentence successfully while about 16% had their parole revoked for breach of conditions and 12.5% had their parole revoked as a result of committing a new offense.

In addition, the NPB noted that in the same five-year period, over 16,000 prisoners were released for day parole and that of these, nearly 83% were completed successfully, 12% had their parole revoked for breaches of conditions, and only 5.7% were revoked for committing new offenses.http://www.npb-cnlc.gc.ca/whatsn/myths053001_e.htm#mytheight

Although Correctional Service of Canada
Correctional Service of Canada
The Correctional Service of Canada , or CSC, is the Canadian federal government agency responsible for the incarceration and rehabilitation of convicted criminal offenders sentenced to two years or more...

 insist incidents like those above are rare, a report by the Canadian Police Association revealed that between 1998 and 2003, 66 people have been killed by convicts out on early release. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/print/CTVNews/1036533023878_6?hub=WFive&subhub=PrintStory

In 2003, it was reported that the whereabouts of over 800 federal offenders and over 1100 provincial offenders on parole and escapees in Canada are unknown.http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1036533023878_6/?hub=WFive

In early 2011 notorious Quebec fraudster, Vincent Lacroix was released after serving 18 months of his 13 year sentence for stealing over $100 million. Sections 125 and 126 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act allow a narrow set of non-violent offenders access to parole after serving one sixth of their sentence. As a response to extensive media coverage and public outcry, the Conservative Party of Canada
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...

, at the urging of the Bloc Québécois
Bloc Québécois
The Bloc Québécois is a federal political party in Canada devoted to the protection of Quebec's interests in the House of Commons of Canada, and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was originally a party made of Quebec nationalists who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative...

 tabled Bill C-59, a law which end early parole for non-violent offenders.

Lawsuits

A number of lawsuits have been filed against the NPB alleging mistakes. Examples include:

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
Silverdale Interactive © 2024. All Rights Reserved.
 
x
OK