A review and analysis of community-based sanctions in Canada.

Abstract

The search for effective community-based sentencing alternatives has been ongoing for a long time. However, despite the overwhelming interest, we knew relatively little about the conditions under which alternatives can be effectively applied to meet specific objectives, how obstacles to their effective implementation can be overcome, and how they can be rooted on a systematic basis. The research program that was approved as part of Bill C-19, concentrated on community service orders, restitution and the proposed fine option programs. To support the jurisdictions in the research program, federal resources were approved for research in these areas. However, most of the research carried out was in the area of fine option programs. Despite the various calls for the use and expansion of community-based sanctions, their development and implementation throughout the jurisdictions have been inconsistent. One of the rationales of the Sentencing Alternative Initiative was to provide more information about programs, and, to stimulate further interest in community-based sanctions. The purpose of this thesis was to provide information on what led to the Government's significant initiative in sentencing reform, and, to discuss the results of the research activities during the Sentencing Alternatives Initiative. The Sentencing Alternatives Initiative served to augment and enhance some of the sentencing alternative projects already in existence across the country, and to stimulate interest in areas where alternatives were not available. As a result, the activities of the Initiative were varied and ranged in type from program reviews to feasibility studies, pilot projects, surveys in jurisdictions and compilation of fact books on the use of alternatives in Canada. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)