Patrick Neal, Program Coordinator for the Crime and Intelligence Analysis option, wanted to bring BC’s current review of the criminal justice system to students’ attention and provide them with some reading material to familiarize themselves with possible changes. He writes:
“British Columbia’s criminal justice system is conducting a review of services and strategies. The purpose of this review is to identify challenges and opportunities to improve community safety, encourage the development of a transparent justice system, and ensure reform is a collaborative process.
As a crime and intelligence analysis professional, these reviews will impact your career in several ways. The most significant impact will the advancement of data intensive analysis of crime activities, and, how well the criminal justice system is performing. In other words, the criminal justice system in BC is looking for ways to capitalize the existing pool of information and conduct analysis on the information within the system.
There are four reports which are relevant:
- Geoffrey Cowper’s “A Criminal Justice System for the 21st Century”. Published August 27th, 2012.
- Minister of Justice’s “White Paper on Justice Reform” PART 2: A timely, balanced justice system. Published February 2013.
- Ministry of Justice’s “White paper on Justice Reform” PART 1: A modern, transparent justice system. Published October 2012.
- Ministry of Justice’s “BC Policing and Community Safety Plan: For consultation”. Published February 2013.
These reports provide valuable insight into the direction BC’s criminal justice system is going. They also provide an excellent reference source to add to expand your knowledge of the changes being proposed.”