Backgrounder

June 1, 2009

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The government's Justice on Target strategy, to reduce criminal court delay and ensure more resources can be focused on cases that need them the most, has entered its next phase.

FIVE ACTION SITES

The Ontario Courts of Justice in Brampton and Toronto's Old City Hall have joined courthouses in Newmarket, North York and London as Action Sites in the province's intensive, sustained effort to realize better, faster justice by making more effective use of justice system resources.

Multi-disciplinary teams will move into the two courthouses to consult with local justice partners to identify challenges and develop initiatives specific to large-scale courthouses that will reduce criminal court delay.

Participants will identify opportunities to create a faster, more effective criminal justice system that manages straightforward cases more quickly and shifts that additional time, effort and resources to the most serious cases in the system.

Successful initiatives will be shared with other courthouses throughout the province.

SEVEN INITIATIVES TO REDUCE DELAY IN NEWMARKET, NORTH YORK AND LONDON

Seven initiatives identified during the first phase of Justice on Target are now being implemented in the Ontario Courts of Justice in Newmarket, North York and London.

The seven initiatives are:

• On-Site Legal Aid and Simplified Online Application Process - Ontarians will be able to apply for Legal Aid on-site and on-line in the courthouse. This will cut the time needed to process applications by clients who clearly qualify for Legal Aid.
• Two-Stage Disclosure - An initial disclosure package will ensure that everyone has the information they need to make timely decisions and minimize unnecessary delays.
• Meaningful First Appearances - Parties will agree if any work can be done up front so that the first court appearance makes real progress on the case.
• Three-Appearance Standard - Parties will know that there is a "three-appearance standard" for straightforward cases. This will allow resources to be redirected to complex cases.
• Crown Access Commitment - All parties will commit to exploring a resolution early in the process.
• Increased Availability of Plea Courts - Make plea courts more available when an accused wants to plead guilty at a scheduled appearance.
• Direct Accountability - Measures to hold offenders directly accountable to their community rather than going through the traditional court process. New strict guidelines will ensure that decisions regarding direct accountability measures are made earlier in the process - before the first appearance, if possible.

THE TARGET

Justice on Target is the province's strategy to reduce delay in Ontario's criminal courts.

Ontario will achieve faster, focused justice by targeting 30 per cent reductions in the provincial average of days and court appearances needed to complete a criminal case. The province plans to meet its target by June 2012.

Ontarians can follow the progress of courts in their local community towards reaching their targets through the Justice on Target website, which for the first time makes criminal case statistics dating back to 2000 publicly available.

In 2007, it took an average of 9.2 court appearances and an average of 205 days to move a charge through the system compared to 4.3 appearances and 115 days in 1992.

In 2007, Toronto's Old City Hall court required an average 12.6 appearances and 307 days, and Brampton required an average 10.7 appearances and 245 days to move a charge through the system.

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