This session will explore new and innovative approaches to community safety that are being implemented in different jurisdictions, together with some of the challenges and opportunities inherent in such endeavors.

The multi-agency “Hub” model, initially implemented in Prince Albert will be featured, as will similar models underway in Ontario.  The session will also focus on providing the outline of the proposed framework, and an introduction into how a local health initiative has formed an integral component to the overall efficacy of one such hub. 

Participants will develop a better understanding of these new models, and the expected implications for both organizations and employees at all levels.

Speakers: Cal Corley, President CorStrat Solutions Inc.; Ken Hunter, Executive Director, Prince Albert Community Mobilization Project; Dale McFee, Deputy Minister, Corrections and Policing, Saskatchewan Ministry of Justice

Presentation:

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The purpose of this workshop is to familiarize participants with the latest policies in corrections that endeavor to hold offenders more accountable for their actions thereby demonstrating to their keepers & the public they are deserving of earning privileges (e.g., better living conditions, early release). Next, Dr. Gendreau brings to light a long-forgotten prison treatment literature known as contingency management (CM, i.e., token economies, behavioral contracting) that meets the needs of the foregoing policy agenda. Research evaluations will be summarized that validate the practical utility of CM programs. The practical details as to “what works" re: CM are explained. Finally, Dr. Gendreau discusses how social contexts, traditional prison procedures, staff resources, and ethical issues can adversely these programs.

Speaker: Paul Gendreau, Professor Emeritus, University of New Brunswick

Prisoners' Accountability: Is CM the Answer?

Operation of the Mental Health Strategy relies on community participation. It's proceeding in three stages: 1) Coordinating services and gathering experiential information; 2) Studying stage 1 experiences for possible therapeutic programs; and 3) Implementation. The eligibility criteria includes: persons who are not in jail who are living with a "mental health condition" that significantly interferes with their functioning in the community. "Mental health condition" includes an intellectual disability or psychiatric condition. While therapeutic programs may be adopted in future; continued eligibility will be important for those who may not be suitable for a therapeutic program. It's a matter of justice.

Speaker: Sheila Whelan, Administrative Judge for Judicial Centre of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Provincial Court

Mental Health Support and Supervision Strategy

This session will describe how program evaluation can be conducted in a manner that lends itself to being useful upon completion. Issues that should be considered to accomplish practical evaluation will be highlighted, such as the timing of the evaluation, the maturity of the program, the potential users and stakeholders of the evaluation, and tailoring the evaluation to maximize utility. Case studies examining two youth crime prevention programs, the Aboriginal Community Cadet Corps Program and the Restorative Action Program, will be used to highlight the practical use of evaluation in different contexts.

Speakers: Lisa Jewell and Carolyn Camman, Research Officers, Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science and Justice Studies, University of Saskatchewan

Conducting Practical Evaluation on Crime Prevention Programs for Youth

Over-reliance on criminal justice is ineffective and costly to victims and municipalities. Tough on preventing victimization - using 21st-century knowledge - will reduce violent crime, respect fairness for Aboriginal Peoples, and avoid wasted taxes.

Dr. Waller's new book, Smarter Crime Control shows politicians how to (i) retool cops, courts and corrections to solve crime problems, (ii) invest in "problem places" to tackle failing parenting, uncaring schools, and neighborhood gangs and to break the pipeline to chronic offending, (iii) change culture in homes and colleges to prevent intimate and sexual violence, and (iv) make partners of smart policing and focused social development to reduce gun and other violence.

Speaker: Irvin Waller, Professor, Department of Criminology, University of Ottawa

Smarter Violence Prevention: An Agenda for Action for 2014

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) describes conditions caused by maternal drinking including cognitive, physical and behavioral issues. Although FASD affects 1-5% of the population, researchers and practitioners agree individuals with FASD are more likely to have negative contact with the justice system including incarceration. This interactive workshop offers a straightforward overview of FASD, including behavioral issues that can result in negative police contact, and highlights the broader challenges FASD presents to the justice sector. The workshop will include research conducted with police and organizations in Saskatchewan and results of a workshop focused on strategies to address FASD at the frontline.

Speaker: Michelle Stewart, Assistant Professor, Department of Justice Studies, University of Regina 

Given the recent and much-publicized cases involving individuals convicted of serious Sexual Assault offenses where sexually transmitted disease plays a fundamental role, this session will discuss:

• The elements of Sexual Assault simpliciter with a particular focus on the element of consent
• The additional elements required to prove Aggravated Sexual Assult
• The effect that sexually transmitted disease has in proving elements of consent and elements specific to Aggravated Sexual Assault, and
• The role of expert opinion evidence specific to sexually transmitted disease in proving Aggravated Sexual Assault and how that role changes over time

Speaker: Frank Impey, Crown Prosecutor, Saskatoon Prosecutions District, Saskatchewan Ministry of Justice

HIV Transmission and Criminal Justice

Monitoring of sex offenders within the community is of major significance to law enforcement agencies throughout Canada, as well as the community at large. This session will focus on a multi-faceted approach that is utilized to ensure offender compliance and maintain public safety.

Featuring speakers from the Correctional Service Canada, Saskatoon Police Service, and Circles of Support and Accountability, topics to be discussed will include: community information on the presence of registered sex offenders in the community, verification of compliance with registration laws, as well as locating noncompliant and absconded offenders. Other areas will include residency, internet access, electronic monitoring and various conditions of release.

Community engagement will also be discussed, including the role of specific organizations in community integration processes. A historical overview of the evolution of the involvement of community stakeholders will be discussed, as well as specific processes employed to positively impact recidivism rates.

The impact of these efforts individually, as well as collectively will be examined as well as future evolving strategies.

Speakers: Otto Driedger, Board Chair, and Florence Driedger, Board Secretary, Circles of Support and Accountability; Linda Flahr, Parole Officer Supervisor, Saskatoon Parole, Correctional Service Canada; Tara Martin, Constable, High Risk Offender Unit, Saskatoon Police Service

Effective management of the risk for untoward outcomes in forensic psychiatric populations requires careful assessment of risk and treatment needs, and risk-relevant, integrated treatment plans. This presentation will describe the clinical pathways into and through the B.C. forensic psychiatric system, as well as an overview of best practice, and the assessment, treatment and evidence-based clinical risk management strategies employed in the B.C. Forensic Psychiatric Hospital and Regional Clinics.

Speaker: Johann Brink, Vice-President Medical Affairs and Research, B.C. Forensic Psychiatric Services Commission

Clinical Risk Management in Forensic Psychiatric Populations

Few propositions are more likely to terrify a psychologist than going to court to provide expert testimony. Whether justifiable or not, we tend to fear lawyers and assume they will act mendaciously, twisting our words to meet their needs. Cross-examinations, in particular, may seem like a gauntlet filled with gloom and doom. It does not have to feel this way. This presentation will focus on principles, practices, and specific experiences that have helped one forensic psychologist provide data and opinions in the courtroom without becoming an emotional wreck. We have much to offer if we understand the rules of the court and how lawyers think. Sometimes it can even be entertaining!

Speaker: Thomas Powell, Forensic Psychologist, Vermont Forensic Assessment, PLLC

Treading Lightly with a Big Stick

Gang violence has become a major issue for law enforcement agencies across Canada over the last two decades.  The natural consequence has been a dramatic increase in gang members being arrested and sentenced to Federal institutions.  The various factions within the gang subculture provide a unique set of challenges and problematic situations for Corrections Canada staff.  This session will discuss the specific strategies that are implemented to manage these various gang members to optimize institutional safety, as well as continue to meet the reintegration objectives.

Speakers: Shannon Mudrey, Security Intelligence Analyst, and Tania Séguin-Moore, Security Intelligence Analyst, Correctional Service Canada, Prairie Region

Self-injurious behavior (SIB), such as cutting, burning, head banging, and ligature use, threatens the safety of offenders and staff in correctional facilities. This workshop will present findings from several research studies on SIB in federally incarcerated offenders that were designed to improve our understanding of SIB by examining the characteristics of offenders who engage in SIB, the nature of self-injury in offenders, and the reasons for engaging in these behaviors. Approaches that work for decreasing or stopping SIB from the perspective of the offenders and staff will also be presented. Gender differences and Aboriginal-specific findings will also be discussed.

Speaker: Jenelle Power, A/Special Advisor, Research Branch, Correctional Service Canada, and Adjunct Professor, Carleton University

Self-Injurious Behaviour in Canadian Corrections

A long-standing debate in penology has focused on whether prisons deter, increase, or have little effect on criminal behavior. First, the theories in each of these domains are summarized and assessed in regard to their theoretical integrity and empirical support (e.g. within prison adjustment, recidivism). Secondly, the special case of extreme conditions of confinement (e.g. solitary confinement/supermax prisons) and its effects on inmates' mental health and recidivism is summarized. Finally, current political perspectives on the utility of prisons in Canada, the UK, and the USA are discussed in light of the evidence and the effects of prison life.

Speaker: Paul Gendreau, Professor Emeritus, University of New Brunswick

The Effects of Prison Life

In 1997 the Parliament of Canada added s. 718.2(e) to the Criminal Code in an attempt to address the over-incarceration of aboriginal peoples. The section is a direction to the courts to consider all available sanctions other than imprisonment (that are reasonable in the circumstances) with particular attention to the “circumstances of aboriginal offenders”. The Supreme Court of Canada has provided strong direction to lower courts in both Gladue (1999) and in Ipeelee (2012) which is intended to result in a reduction of incarceration of aboriginal peoples in accord with its interpretation of Parliament’s direction. Unfortunately, this has not led to a reduction in the incarceration of aboriginal peoples which numbers continue to increase in proportion to other offenders. Lower courts continue to struggle with understanding how to apply the section and the Gladue principles. This presentation will explore why that is the case and what needs to be done to address the over-representation of aboriginal peoples in Canada’s prisons. The “circumstances of aboriginal offenders”, while apparently understood by the Supreme Court, has not been understood by lower courts and it will be suggested that in many jurisdictions it is the failure to truly address the meaning of that phrase which has led to an institutional failure to implement Gladue.

Speaker: Glen Luther, QC, Professor, College of Law, University of Saskatchewan

Canada's legal system recognizes the devastating impacts of colonization on the circumstances of Aboriginal people, which has, in part, led many into the criminal justice system. This is reflected in paragraph 71B.2(e) of the Criminal Code which requires a sentencing judge to give particular attention to the circumstances of Aboriginal offenders in determining whether an alternative to incarceration may be appropriate.

In the 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision, R v. Gladue, the responsibility of the court to consider the historical circumstances of Aboriginal offenders was reinforced. Although Gladue refers to a sentencing decision, the Correctional Service Canada has adopted an approach in the spirit and in keeping with the principles of Gladue that ensures an Aboriginal offender's Aboriginal social history is taken into consideration when making decisions about his/her sentence. This workshop will discuss the practical application of considering the offender's Aboriginal social history, and how it assists Aboriginal men and women offenders in the reintegration process.

Speaker: Lisa Allgaier, Director General, Aboriginal Initiatives Directorate, Correctional Service Canada

Gladue in Sentencing

Aboriginal Social History and Corrections

Although the vast majority of sexual offending studies have focused on male offenders, there has been an increase over the last decade in research on female sex offenders. This presentation will review existing female sex offender research, summarizing what we know about the offenders in terms of their prevalence, reasons for offending, risk (and risk assessment) for re-offending, and treatment needs.

Speaker: Jeffrey Sandler, Research Scientist, New York State Office of Mental Health

Female Sex Offenders: What We Know

The Institute for Strategic International Studies (ISIS) is an executive development program for senior leaders in policing and other justice-related agencies across Canada, developed and operated by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP).

 This workshop will highlight the findings of research undertaken as part of this year’s program, using a qualitative research methodology and global field studies, to explore and define international practices involving interactions among human service agencies that may help reduce contact between persons with mental illness and the justice system.  The aim of the research is to inform policy and practice across the human services, including the police and justice system in the Canadian context.

Speakers: Rae Gallivan, Director, Youth Custody Services, Saskatchewan Ministry of Justice - Corrections and Policing; Delphine Gossner, Chief Clinical Director, Saskatchewan Ministry of Justice - Corrections and Policing; Mitch Yuzdepski, Inspector, Saskatoon Police Service

Mental Health and Criminal Justice - Improving Outcomes