The reconviction rate of federal offenders : Taux de nouvelles condamnations des délinquants sous responsabilité fédérale

The authors would like to thank the members of the Portfolio Corrections Statistics Committee for their assistance and guidance in the formulation of the project. [...] Police clearance rates, court caseloads and the cost of incarceration are but a few examples of the types of information needed to understand and hopefully improve the different components of the criminal justice system. [...] The major mandate of corrections is to administer the sentences of the courts with the overall goal to enhance public safety. [...] First, it allows the Department of the Solicitor General to give the public an easily understood estimate of the federal offender’s “return to crime” that is independent of the particular interest of the agencies of the Solicitor General. [...] The Portfolio Corrections Statistics Committee, as part of its mandate to produce the “Corrections and Conditional Release Statistical Overview” (CCRSO), undertook to adopt a measure of recidivism that would be used as a common measure by the Department and the agencies (Correctional Service of Canada and National Parole Board) within the Portfolio of the Solicitor General.