Corrections and conditional release statistical overview

• First, the visual representation of the statistics is simple and uncluttered, and under each chart there are a few key points that will assist the reader in extracting the information from the chart.
  
  
• Second, for each chart there is a table of numbers corresponding to the visual representation. In some instances, the table includes additional numbers, e.g., a five-year series, even though the chart depicts the data for the most recent year (e.g., Figure A2).
  
  
• Third, rather than using the conventional headings for statistics (e.g., “police-reported crime rate by year by type of crime”) the titles for each chart and table inform the reader about the matter at hand (e.g., “Police-reported crime rate has decreased since 1991”).
  
  
• Fourth, notes have been kept to a minimum, that is, only where they were judged to be essential for the reader to understand the statistics.
  
  
• Finally, the source of the statistics is indicated under each chart so that the interested reader can easily access more information if desired.

Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada is Canada’s lead federal department for public safety, which includes emergency management, national security, and community safety. One of its many responsibilities include developing legislation and policies governing corrections, implementing innovative approaches to community justice, and providing research expertise and resources to the corrections community.

The mandate of the Correctional Service of Canada, as set out in the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, is to contribute to the maintenance of a just, peaceful and safe society by carrying out sentences imposed by courts through the safe and humane custody and supervision of offenders with sentences of two years or more, and assisting in the rehabilitation of offenders and their reintegration into the community as law-abiding citizens through the provision of programs in penitentiaries and in the community.

The National Parole Board is an independent administrative tribunal responsible for making decisions about the timing and conditions of release of offenders to the community on various forms of conditional release. The Board also makes pardon decisions, and recommendations respecting clemency through the Royal Prerogative of Mercy.

The Office of the Correctional Investigator is an Ombudsman for federal offenders. It conducts investigations into the problems of offenders related to decisions, recommendations, acts or omissions of the Correctional Service of Canada that affect offenders individually or as a group.