August 31, 2005
Manitoba’s Domestic Violence Front End Project has won the gold medal in prestigious national awards recognizing excellence in public sector service delivery, Chief Judge Raymond Wyant and Attorney General Gord Mackintosh announced today.
The Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC) presented its gold, silver and bronze 2005 Awards for Innovative Management at its annual conference in Regina today.
“Everyone who has been a part of this creative and successful initiative can truly be proud of their role in helping ensure justice is done effectively and efficiently in Manitoba,” said Wyant. “The Domestic Violence Front End Project has introduced administrative processing of cases before a guilty or not guilty plea is entered. This has resulted in cases getting to court more quickly, uses court time for meaningful events in the case and relieves stress for both victims and the justice system itself.”
“Staff from Manitoba Justice, members of the judiciary and police worked together, challenging traditional practices to get rid of organizational barriers that were causing criminal domestic violence cases to drag through the system,” said Mackintosh. “I’m very proud of this joint effort, which is making a real difference.”
In the project, the chief of police committed to impose strict disclosure deadlines. A single Crown attorney is assigned to each case when it enters the system and many procedural remands are avoided by setting court dates only when it is legally necessary and when there is a judicial decision required in a case. Importantly, there is now early and consistent contact between the Crown attorney and the victim. Those accused who choose to deal with the causes of the violence also have an earlier opportunity to enter and complete counselling programs.
In the first six months of the project, the time it took for an accused who was not in custody to go from their first court appearance to entering a plea dropped from more than seven months to as little as two months. The time it took from that first appearance to a trial date also dropped by several months.
Being more efficient cut in half the number of overtime hours worked by court staff. The result was a saving of about $120,000 during the first six months of the project.
The success of the project has led to plans to expand the approach to other provincial court matters.
The project was one of 69 entries considered by IPAC this year. Created in 1947, IPAC is a private, non-profit organization and the leading Canadian organization concerned with the theory and practice of public management. The Award for Innovative Management was first awarded in 1990 to recognize exceptional management in the public service.
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