CASE PROCESSING IN NOVA SCOTIA YOUTH COURT

CASE PROCESSING IN NOVA SCOTIA YOUTH COURT 2011-12 to 2015-16 Prepared by: Policy, Planning and Research Nova Scotia Department of Justice June 2016

Table of Contents Table of Figures... ii Section 1: Introcuction... 1 June 2016 Update... 1 Reducing Case Processing Times... 1 Section 2: Youth Case Processing Volumes... 2 Annual Youth Case Volumes... 2 Youth Case Volumes by Justice Centre, 2015-16... 3 Single vs. Multiple Charge Youth Cases... 4 Type of Offence... 5 Section 3: Youth Case Processing Times... 6 Annual Average Youth Case Processing Time... 6 Average Youth Case Processing Time by Justice Centre, 2015-16... 7 Annual Median Youth Case Processing Time... 8 Median Youth Case Processing Time by Justice Centre, 2015-16... 9 Average Number of Youth Court Appearances... 10 Section 4: Serious and Pending Charges in Youth Court... 11 Serious Charges... 11 Pending Charges... 11 1 P a g e

Table of Figures Figure 1: Annual youth case volumes in Nova Scotia, 2011-12 to 2015-16... 2 Figure 2: Youth case volumes by Justice Centre, 2015-16... 3 Figure 3: Volume of single vs. multiple charge youth cases, 2011-12 to 2015-16... 4 Figure 4: Volume of youth cases by type of offence in Nova Scotia, 2011-12 to 2015-16... 5 Figure 5: Annual average youth case processing time in Nova Scotia, 2011-12 to 2015-16... 6 Figure 6: Average youth case processing time by Justice Centre, 2015-16... 7 Figure 7: Annual median youth case processing time in Nova Scotia, 2011-12 to 2015-16... 8 Figure 8: Median youth case processing time by Justice Centre, 2015-16... 9 Figure 9: Average number of appearances for youth court cases, 2011-12 to 2015-16...10 Figure 10: Average time to first appearance in youth court for serious and pending charges by Justice Centre, 2015-16...12 2 P a g e

Section 1: Introduction June 2016: Update Youth case processing time is defined as the elapsed time from the accused s first appearance in youth court until final disposition. Nova Scotia excludes cases involving restorative justice and bench warrants when calculating case processing times and reporting on the corresponding case volumes. Cases involving restorative justice are excluded because, on average, these cases take over 200 days to complete which artificially inflates overall processing times. Those involving bench warrants are excluded because, once issued by the Court, the Court cannot control how long it takes to have that warrant executed. Reducing Case Processing Times Case processing times are impacted by a variety of factors throughout the justice system. Reducing case processing times to reach the target of 98 days requires the combined efforts of the Police, the Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service, Legal Aid, the Judiciary, the Courts and Corrections. The Department continues to work with its justice partners to identify ways to reduce case processing times and to meet the established target of 98 days from first appearance to final disposition. Committees consisting of Department of Justice staff and justice partners have been established across the province to find local solutions for improving youth case processing times. 3 P a g e

Number of Cases Section 2: Youth Case Processing Volumes Annual Youth Case Volumes CASE PROCESSING IN NOVA SCOTIA YOUTH COURT Youth court case volumes have been trending down in Nova Scotia for a number of years. In 2015-16, there were 814 cases completed in youth court which is a decrease of 37% (or 471 cases) compared to 2011-12. Of the 814 cases, 40% involved restorative justice and/or a bench warrant and were excluded from the analysis. This is similar to the proportion of cases excluded in the prior year. For the purpose of this report, 487 cases were included in the analysis (Figure 1). Figure 1: Annual youth case volumes in Nova Scotia, 2011-12 to 2015-16 1,400 1,285 1,299 1,200 1,000 1,009 1,053 800 856 830 724 639 r 814 600 487 400 200 0 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 Total case volume Excluding RJ and BW r = revised figure. 4 P a g e

Youth Case Volumes by Justice Centre, 2015-16 CASE PROCESSING IN NOVA SCOTIA YOUTH COURT In 2015-16, youth case volumes ranged from a low of five cases in the Port Hawkesbury Justice Centre to a high of 196 cases in the Halifax Justice Centre. Together, the Halifax and Sydney Justice Centres accounted for more than half (55%) of the total volume of youth cases for the province (Figure 2). Between 2014-15 and 2015-16, youth case volumes declined in most Justice Centres in the province, with the exception of Amherst (up 3 cases), Antigonish (up 2 cases) and Yarmouth (up 4 cases), where there were slight increases in volumes. Figure 2: Youth cases volumes* by Justice Centre, 2015-16 Halifax 196 Sydney 70 Kentville 54 Truro 41 Pictou 34 Yarmouth 27 Amherst Bridgewater 21 18 Provincial Total = 487 Digby 13 Antigonish 8 Port Hawkesbury 5 *Excludes cases involving restorative justice and bench warrants Note: There were no youth cases in the Dartmouth Justice Centre in 2015-16. 5 P a g e

Number of cases Single vs. Multiple Charge Youth Cases CASE PROCESSING IN NOVA SCOTIA YOUTH COURT Over the last five years, the volume of both single charge cases and multiple charge cases has declined. The volume of single charge cases has consistently decreased over this time period, with an overall decrease of 58% (or 174 cases). In contrast, there was a slight increase in the volume of multiple charge cases from 2011-12 to 2012-13, followed by a decrease over the past three years. Overall, between 2011-12 and 2015-16, the volume of multiple charge cases decreased 35% (or 195 cases) (Figure 3). 700 Figure 3: Volume* of single vs. multiple charge youth cases in Nova Scotia, 2011-12 to 2015-16 600 556 588 531 500 465 400 361 300 300 242 200 193 174 r 126 100 0 Single charge Multiple charge *Excludes cases involving restorative justice and bench warrants r = revised figure. 6 P a g e

Number of cases CASE PROCESSING IN NOVA SCOTIA YOUTH COURT Type of Offence Among the 487 cases completed in 2015-16, 145 cases (30%) involved property offences. Equal proportions of youth court cases involved violent offences (35% or 171 cases) and other offences (35% or 171 cases). Analysis of the trends in case volumes by type of offence shows that the volume of cases involving violent, property and other offences have declined over the past five years (Figure 4). In 2015-16, the volume of cases involving property offences was 42% lower than in 2011-12, and the number of cases involving violent offences was 38% lower. In addition, there were 48% fewer cases involving other offences in 2015-16 as compared to five years ago. Figure 4: Volume* of youth cases by type of offence in Nova Scotia, 2011-12 to 2015-16 350 328 326 300 250 276 230 234 240r 252 274 292 216 200 171 198 183 r 171 150 145 100 50 0 Violent Property Other *Excludes cases involving restorative justice and bench warrants r = revised figure. 7 P a g e

Number of Days Section 3: Youth Case Processing Times CASE PROCESSING IN NOVA SCOTIA YOUTH COURT Annual Average Youth Case Processing Time After remaining relatively stable for the previous three years, average case processing time increased to 120 days in 2015-16. This is 10 days (or 9%) higher than the prior year and 18% (or 18 days) higher than 2011-12, when average case processing time was 102 days (Figure 5). In 2015-16, multiple charge cases took an average of 128 days to process which is an increase of 10% (or 12 days) from the prior year. By comparison, single charge cases took an average of 95 days to process which is similar to 2014-15. Average case processing times in 2015-16 were longer for violent offences (161 days) than property offences (104 days) or other offences (93 days) which is consistent with previous years. Compared to the prior year, average case processing times increased for both violent offences (up 17% or 23 days) and other offences (up 18% or 14 days). In contrast, case processing times decreased for property offences (down 6% or 7 days). 125 Figure 5: Annual average youth case processing time* in Nova Scotia, 2011-12 to 2015-16 120 120 115 110 109 111 110 r 105 102 100 95 90 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 *Excludes cases involving restorative justice and bench warrants r = revised figure. 8 P a g e

Average Youth Case Processing Time by Justice Centre, 2015-16 As in previous years, there was variation across the province in case processing times in 2015-16. Average case processing times were above the provincial average of 120 days in Kentville, Yarmouth, Bridgewater, Amherst, and Digby. Halifax, Truro, Sydney and Pictou were below the provincial average, however, only Pictou was below the 98-day case processing target (Figure 6). Between 2014-15 and 2015-16, three Justice Centres showed decreases in youth case processing times: Pictou (-22%), Sydney (-21%) and Yarmouth (-16%). Increases in average case processing times were observed for the remaining Justice Centres. Figure 6: Average youth case processing time* by Justice Centre, 2015-16 Digby Amherst 183 191 Bridgewater 169 Yarmouth 154 Kentville 133 Provincial Total Halifax Truro 108 113 120 Sydney Pictou 58 99 98-day target 0 50 100 150 200 250 Average number of days * Excludes cases involving restorative justice and bench warrants * Note: Port Hawkesbury and Antigonish are not presented due to the small number of cases. There were no youth cases in the Dartmouth Justice Centre in 2015-16. 9 P a g e

Number of days Annual Median Youth Case Processing Time CASE PROCESSING IN NOVA SCOTIA YOUTH COURT The median is another important way of measuring youth case processing times. The median represents the midpoint at which half of the cases fall below and half fall above. While average case processing times can be impacted by a small number of unusually long or short cases, the median case processing time is not affected by such cases. Median case processing time has been somewhat variable over the past five years, although it has increased in the two most recent years. In 2015-16, the median case processing time increased to 99 days, one day above the 98-day target and 21 days (or 27%) higher than 2011-12 (Figure 7). 120 Figure 7: Annual median youth case processing time* in Nova Scotia, 2011-12 to 2015-16 100 99 80 78 83 79 84 60 40 20 0 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 *Excludes cases involving restorative justice and bench warrants 10 P a g e

Median Youth Case Processing Time by Justice Centre, 2015-16 Similar to average case processing times, there was variation across the province in median case processing times in 2015-16. Median case processing times were above the overall provincial median of 99 days in Truro, Sydney, Kentville, Bridgewater, Digby, and Amherst. Halifax, Yarmouth and Pictou were below the provincial median and the 98-day case processing target (Figure 8). Figure 8: Median youth case processing time* by Justice Centre, 2015-16 Amherst 170 Digby 165 Bridgewater 155 Kentville 131 Sydney 102 Truro 101 Provincial Total Halifax 96 99 98-day target Yarmouth 94 Pictou 50 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 Median number of days * Excludes cases involving restorative justice and bench warrants. Note: Port Hawkesbury and Antigonish are not presented due to the small number of cases. There were no youth cases in the Dartmouth Justice Centre in 2015-16. 11 P a g e

Number of appearances Average Number of Youth Court Appearances CASE PROCESSING IN NOVA SCOTIA YOUTH COURT The average number of appearances in youth court has increased over the past five years. In 2015-16, it took on average, 5.3 appearances for a case to reach a final disposition in youth court as compared to 4.6 appearances in 2011-12. This means that, on average, cases took nearly one more appearance to be disposed of in 2015-16 as compared to five years prior (Figure 9). 6 Figure 10: Average number of appearances for youth court cases in Nova Scotia, 2011-12 to 2015-16 5.3 5 4.6 4.8 4.8 4.9 4 3 2 1 0 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 *Excludes cases involving restorative justice and bench warrants. Overall, multiple charge cases require more appearances to reach final disposition than single charge cases. In 2015-16, multiple charge cases required an average of 5.8 appearances compared to 3.8 for single charge cases. The number of appearances for single charge cases and for multiple charge cases have both increased over the past five years. The number of appearances required for single charge cases to reach final disposition increased from 3.2 to 3.8. Similarly, the number of appearances for multiple charge cases increased from 5.4 to 5.8. 12 P a g e

Section 4: Serious and Pending Charges in Youth Court Serious Charges 1 Based on the recommendation of Commissioner Nunn, the Nova Scotia Department of Justice has established a target of seven days from the time a youth is charged with a serious offence to the time he/she appears in court. 2 In Nova Scotia, serious charges took an average of 11 days to appear in youth court in 2015-16 which is four days above the target, and the same as 2014-15. The provincial average was largely driven by Halifax which represented 63% of the serious charges in the province and, at six days, was the only Justice Centre 3 below the 7-day target (Figure 10). Pending Charges For young persons charged with a non-serious offence and who have pending charges (defined as three or more criminal charges within the preceding year) the Department established a target of seven days from the time the young person is charged to his/her appearance in youth court. In 2015-16, youth with pending charges took an average of five days to appear in youth court in Nova Scotia (excluding the Justice of the Peace Centre). This is two days below the 7-day target and two days less than the prior year. As with serious charges, the provincial average was largely driven by Halifax which represented 57% of pending charges and, at three days, was four days below target. In addition to Halifax, the average time to first appearance was at or below the 7-day target in Bridgewater (5 days), Pictou (7 days), Port Hawkesbury (3 days), Sydney (6 days) and Yarmouth (5 days). The remaining five Justice Centres were above target (Figure 10). 1 A serious charge is defined as one or more of the following offences: murder, manslaughter, infanticide, criminal negligence causing death, other offences causing death, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault with a weapon, other sexual offences (i.e., sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching, etc.), aggravated assault, assault with a weapon or causing bodily harm, criminal negligence causing bodily harm, kidnapping, hostage taking, abduction under 16, child pornography (possession and production), robbery, extortion, use of explosives causing death/bodily harm, arson, Criminal Code motor vehicle offences which endanger the public (i.e., dangerous driving, impaired driving, and motor vehicle theft), firearms offences, and home invasions. 2 In instances where a youth s first appearance was indicated as the Justice of the Peace Centre, the next scheduled appearance date is used in measuring elapsed time for serious and pending charges. In a small number of these cases a bench warrant was issued or held at the first scheduled appearance. These cases have been excluded from the analysis of serious and pending charges. 3 There were no youth cases in the Dartmouth Justice Centre in 2015-16. 13 P a g e

Figure 10: Average time to first appearance in youth court for serious and pending charges by Justice Centre, 2015-16 50 47 45 40 35 36 38 41 30 7-day target 25 23 20 15 10 5 11 8 5 10 19 6 3 13 7 14 3 15 6 11 8 16 11 5 5 0 Serious Pending *Note: There were no youth cases in the Dartmouth Justice Centre in 2015-16. 14 P a g e