2016 Canadian Victim Services Indicators: Pilot survey evaluation and recommendations

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Executive summary

The Canadian Victim Services Indicators (CVSI) survey was developed as part of a longer term project to improve information on the provision of victim services in Canada.^{Footnote 1} In an effort to identify data opportunities that could be used to measure the impact of the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights (CVBR) on the justice system, the Office of the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime, in partnership with the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics (CCJS) at Statistics Canada, undertook a data mapping study to outline research needs and opportunities related to measuring how victims of crime access services through the justice system. The study identified data opportunities that could be used as potential sources for assessing how victims are served by various justice systems pre and post implementation of the CVBR. In addition, the study also highlighted data gaps and where data existed but lacked the required detail or scope. The CVSI pilot survey represents the next phase of this work, the third phase of the longer-term project to develop victim services indicators

The purpose of the 2016 CVSI pilot survey was to select key indicators that had been identified in the feasibility study and test how well they could be measured using existing data from the provincial and territorial directorates. Information was collected in order to attempt to measure:

1. how many victims received services;
2. characteristics of victims served;
3. volume of services provided to victims (a measure of victim services caseload in terms of the number of different types of services provided);
4. number of victims that had the opportunity to file a Victim Impact Statement (VIS) (received a form); and,
5. number of victims that filed a VIS (whether or not it was read or filed in court).

The 2016 CVSI pilot identified a number of critical challenges to collecting standardized measures for these items. Most importantly, it was determined that it is not possible to capture a standard, comparable count of victims of crime served by victim services by province and territory, nor, as a result, is it possible to produce a reliable national count. While the definition of a victim of crime had been agreed upon as a standard by jurisdictions, the nature of available data and the point at which the victim data was collected did not permit a standard measure. Instead, the information available ranged widely by jurisdiction, from counts of all victims receiving services, to only those victims participating in the criminal justice system where a charge has been laid. Moreover, the nature of the available data does not permit all jurisdictions to report even on this latter restricted definition (post charge).

These differences in coverage (i.e., which victims were included in the data) arise from differences in the structure and delivery of victim services in each jurisdiction. Moreover, the structural differences in coverage affect the ability to produce any comparable measures. Not only are victim counts affected, but also measures of caseload, as jurisdictions do not capture the caseload for the same stage in the delivery of victim services.

The difference by jurisdiction are structural, built into the differences in how victim services are delivered in each province and territory. As a result, there is no likely solution to the coverage issue without dismantling or remodeling how jurisdictions provide their services in order to align to a “national standard”. At a more pragmatic level, it was identified by the jurisdictions that making changes to their information systems in order to attempt to meet a national standard is burdensome, expensive, and, in most cases, not possible in the short term. While the CVSI respondents were very engaged in supporting this project, it required a great deal of time and effort on their part.

It should be noted that the work carried out by the PCVI FPT working group to support the pilot study did have some positive outcomes. In particular, we have been able to document in detail the challenges in measuring victim services nationally and individual jurisdictions have been able to evaluate the nature and quality of their respective data systems used to record information on victims. As a result, several jurisdictions are considering improvements to their information systems not only to produce better measures, but primarily to improve their capacity to serve victims within their jurisdictions. In addition, they are hoping to take advantage of what they have learned through this project to learn from each other. Finally, as a result of this project, the CCJS has developed online data tables of police-reported counts of victims of violence for each province and territory—these tables will be released on an annual basis. (Link to Statistics Canada Victim tables).

Recommendation: The results of the CVSI pilot survey demonstrate that jurisdictional differences in the delivery of victim services in each province or territory prevent the development of comparable victim services measures. Statistics Canada, with the full support of the provincial and territorial CVSI respondents, has made a serious attempt to develop standard victim services indicators. However, the barriers to producing reliable and comparable measures are such that we cannot recommend investing further time and resources in this work.

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