In addition to receiving information about the offender's program participation and serious disciplinary offences, you can also receive information related to the offender's progress against the objectives of his or her correctional plan.
When offenders come under CSC’s responsibility, CSC gathers information about their lives and their crimes, including information from the courts and police. As offenders go through a process called “intake”, CSC gives them special tests and comes up with ratings about a number of key aspects of their lives, such as mental health, education, and substance abuse. With this information CSC evaluates offenders’ needs in the following eight areas:
1. Education – level of education, vocational training
Employment – work skills and experience, history of unemployment
Marital/Family – history of relationships, family abuse, parenting skills
Associates – criminal friends, isolation from pro-social people
Substance Abuse – history of drug and/or alcohol abuse and its link to offending
Community Functioning – ability to manage finances/housing, involvement in pro-social recreation/leisure activities
Personal/Emotional Orientation – problem-solving skills, self-discipline, interpersonal skills, anger management
Attitude – rationalization for crime, attitudes towards the law and criminal justice system
All of this is used to write the offenders’ Correctional Plan, which states if and how these factors contributed to their criminal behaviour. The Plan also lists the goals the offenders are expected to meet while serving their sentence - for example, the programs that the offender needs to participate in.
The Plan is reviewed and the ratings are updated throughout the sentence, based on the offenders’ progress and whether they are meeting the goals set out in the Plan.
CSC also looks at the following:
how much offenders take responsibility for their crimes;
whether offenders are willing to actively work on meeting the goals of their Correctional Plan;
whether offenders want to and are willing to make the effort to change; and
offenders’ ability to return to the community without committing crimes in the future.
You can receive reports with information about an offender’s correctional plan dating back to the beginning of the sentence. These reports also include information about the offender’s progress toward meeting the objectives of the plan.
For more information please visit CSC's Correctional Process page.
This information was gathered directly from Correctional Service Canada. For more information, please visit https://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/victims/003006-1003-eng.shtml