COMMISSIONER'S DIRECTIVE

ASSESSING SERIOUS HARM

OBJECTIVE

1. To establish standards and procedures for the assessment of serious harm.

CROSS-REFERENCES

2. CD 705-6 - Correctional Planning and Criminal Profile
CD 712-2 - Detention

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

3. Parole Officer/Primary Worker is responsible for determining serious harm at the applicable points during the sentence.

DEFINITIONS

4. Persistent violence: three or more convictions for offences under Schedule I of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA). See CCRA, s. 132(1)(a).

5. Gratuitous violence: excessive violence beyond that which is "required" to meet an end; or evidence of sadistic behaviour, torture.

6. Serious harm: CCRA s. 99 defines "serious harm" as "severe physical injury or severe psychological damage".

SERIOUS HARM

7. The determination of serious harm is a critical component of the assessment of static factors. It is mandatory that the details of all offenders serving sentences for Schedule I and II offences be reviewed and analyzed to determine if serious harm was involved in the commission of the offence.

8. The following factors must be considered in formulating an opinion as to whether serious harm was caused. It is not necessary for an offence to involve each of these elements in order to meet the criterion; rather, all the dimensions must be weighted and an assessment made whether, taken together, all the elements of the offence lead to an opinion that serious harm was caused:

1. the extent of injury to the victim, as assessed or indicated by medical care sought or required;
2. the nature of the offence and the circumstances surrounding it, and in particular whether it involved brutality, excessive force, viciousness, or deviant sexual behaviour;
3. the use of a weapon to harm or threaten the victim;
4. whether or not the victim was subject to prolonged or repeated abuse or terror; and/or
5. any particular vulnerability of the victim, such as being very young, aged, infirm, helpless, or handicapped.

9. Where it is determined that a victim suffered serious harm during the commission of the offence:

1. the Parole Officer conducting the Intake Assessment must carefully consider whether the offender's level of intervention based on static factor ratings must automatically be classified as "HIGH";
2. if the offender is serving a sentence for a Schedule I offence where serious harm to the victim occurred, the decision-making authority for Unescorted Temporary Absences will be the National Parole Board.

Assessing Severe Physical Injury

10. An offence which results in physical disability, incapacitation, disfigurement, or serious reduction in quality of life, where the result is permanent or long term in nature, should, unless exceptional circumstances exist, be regarded as having satisfied the "serious harm" criterion. The level of medical intervention involved will also be considered.

11. In the absence of concrete information, expert opinion may be sought (e.g., consultation with psychiatrist, research findings).

Assessing Severe Psychological Damage

12. The following guidelines are to be applied to all cases where the offence involves a Schedule I or II offence. See Annex A.

13. It is necessary to form an opinion to determine whether victims of criminal offences exhibit symptoms of serious psychological disorders. Refer to Annex B for a list of factors associated with severe psychological damage.

14. The difference between "mild" to "moderate" symptoms and "severe" symptoms is a matter of degree. One way of determining whether a psychological symptom is severe or not is to consider whether a person with that symptom would definitely be in need of treatment. Refer to Annex A.

15. If harm to the victim is not clearly identified, Parole Officers/Primary Workers must use professional judgement to provide an opinion.

16. When reviewing Victim Impact Statements:

1. for impact statements taken immediately after the crime, look for high levels of subjective distress and the victim's fear of death during the incident. Strong fears reported immediately following the incident are an indication that the victim may have suffered severe psychological damage;
2. for victim impact statements taken several months after the event, look for any serious symptoms, including symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, sustained subjective distress, and impairment in social and occupational functioning. These are signs that the victim may have suffered severe psychological damage;
3. in addition to victim impact statements, consideration should be given to offence and victim characteristics (e.g. elderly, handicapped).

Commissioner,

Original signed by
Keith Coulter

Annex A - Determining Severity of Psychological Symptoms

Other serious psychological disorders that can result from victimization include depression, conduct disorder (in children), various anxiety disorders, and the exacerbation of pre-existing psychological or psychiatric problems. A frequent symptom in children of sexual victimization is inappropriate sexual behaviour.

DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN SEVERE AND MODERATE PSYCHOLOGICAL SYMPTOMS

Severe

• has suicidal ideation
• unable to keep a job
• unable to leave home
• has no friends
• frequently shoplifts
• neglects family
• has delusions (believes things that could not be true)
• has frequent panic attacks
• refuses to go to school (child)
• has persistent insomnia
• compulsively drinks
• addicted to drugs

Moderate

• has depressed mood
• has conflicts with co-workers
• avoids some places usually considered safe (e.g. shopping malls)
• has few friends
• steals from others within the household
• provides inconsistent parenting
• is overly suspicious
• has occasional panic attacks
• occasionally truant
• has some nightmares

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the serious psychological disorders resulting from criminal victimization. The diagnostic criteria for PTSD are as follows:

Diagnostic Criteria for PTSD

• reliving of event (intrusive memories, dreams, feeling like event is recurring)
• feeling numb; persistent avoidance of possible reminders of event; loss of interest in future
• increased psychological arousal (sleep problems, cannot concentrate, startles easily)
• duration of disturbance of at least one month

Annex B - Factors Associated with Severe Psychological Damage

The following lists identify offence and victim characteristics identified in the mental health literature as being commonly associated with psychological disorders resulting from sexual and non-sexual victimization. The presence of each of these characteristics increased the probability that a victim of a criminal offence suffered severe psychological damage. It should be noted that the research literature indicates that sexual offences are more likely to cause severe psychological damage than non-sexual offences.

Offence characteristics

• sexual offence
• if a sexual offence, penetration was involved
• brutality (e.g., serious physical injury, torture)
• victim held captive
• repeated offences against victim
• long duration

Victim characteristics

• prior mental health or adjustment problems
• prior criminal victimization
• female
• 50 years old or older

Other factors

• prior positive relationship or relationship of trust with offender (e.g., parent abuses child, assault by marriage partner)
• no social support for victim provided (e.g., family disbelieves child sexual abuse victim, victim isolated from friends, family, services)

Annex C - Guide to Establishing the Likelihood of Severe Psychological Damage

The foregoing are guidelines only. Victims may be seriously harmed although few (or none) of the factors are present. As well, victims may not be seriously harmed even though many of the factors are present. The severity and duration of the factors need to be considered in making judgements about the impact of the crime. To assist in making this judgement, the following table presents various combinations of cases that have been identified in research literature as being associated with severe psychological damage. The cases are presented in descending order of their likelihood of being associated with severe psychological damage (e.g., the ones at the top of the table are representative of cases most often associated with incidents of severe psychological damage and the ones at the bottom depict cases that are unlikely to be associated with severe psychological damage).

LIKELIHOOD OF CASES BEING ASSOCIATED WITH SEVERE PSYHOLOOGICAL DAMAGE

Most likely

• Child victim, sexual intercourse with parental figure.
• Adult female victim, forced sexual intercourse with significant physical injury.
• Adult victim, hostage for 10 hours, physical injury, plausible death threats.
• Child victim, sexual offence without penetration by parental figure or person in position of trust, duration greater than 12 months.

Not as likely

• Child victim, sexual offence without penetration by parental figure or person in position of trust, duration of 6 months or less.
• Adult female victim, sexual assault without penetration by male known to victim, threats of injury, single incident.
• Adult female victim, physical assaults by intimate male, greater than 12 months duration.
• Child victim, sexual assault by stranger, no overt force, 3 months duration.
• Adult female victim, prior mental health problems, armed robbery.

Less likely

• Child victim, single incident of sexual assault by stranger, no overt force, low degree of sexual contact.
• Adult female victim, single incident of physical assault (bruising) by male acquaintance.
• Adult female victim, sexual assault (touching over clothes) by male in position of authority (landlord, boss) no overt force, duration of 3 months.
• Elderly woman living alone, arson in apartment building, not direct target.

Least Likely

• Exhibitionism, obscene telephone calls (adult or child victims).
• Property offence, family household, no special vulnerabilities.
• Adult male victim, assault by male acquaintance.

Table of Contents