The Office of the Auditor General presented its latest report to the Legislative Assembly today, Progress Audit Report: Effectiveness of B.C. Community Corrections. The report focuses on changes made in community corrections since the Office's 2011 report, Effectiveness of B.C. Community Corrections.
The Community Corrections Division has made some progress, but more is needed. The audit team looked at
six of the original eight recommendations and concluded that the division has only implemented one recommendation since 2011.
For three of the recommendations that are not yet implemented, the division committed to determining if the changes it has made are working as intended. This will allow it to fully implement the recommendations.
The other two recommendations around evaluating the effectiveness of contracted services and community programs, as well as identifying gaps in staff capacity and caseload level may remain outstanding. The division reported there is nothing more it can do to implement these.
The division plays a key role in the province's criminal justice system. About 90% of offenders are supervised in the community, while only 10% are supervised in jail. Community supervision can enhance rehabilitation and reduce the rate of re-offending, and it costs substantially less than a jail sentence.
This progress audit is the first in a new follow-up process adopted by the Select Standing Committee on Public Accounts (PAC). Audited organizations now submit detailed action plans to PAC, along with regular updates on their progress in implementing recommendations. The Auditor General's Office then selects a sample of action plans to audit based on risk, dollar value, impact and more.
Click here for an audio/visual summary of the report.
