Ontario’s Bail Safety Pilot

In February 2002, the jury in a coroner’s inquest into the deaths of Gillian and Ralph Hadley delivered its recommendations. Almost two years previously, while out on bail on charges including breaching an order to stay away from his estranged wife, Ralph Hadley killed Gillian Hadley in the Pickering, Ont., home they once shared. He then committed suicide. The inquest’s twelfth recommendation directed the Ministry of the Attorney General to work with the Ministry of the Solicitor General to develop a specialized domestic violence bail program.

In response to this recommendation, the Ministry of the Attorney General and the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services developed a pilot program based on an early interview pre-bail program previously implemented in Chatham, Ontario. The primary focus of the program is to gather information at the bail stage that can contribute to the safety of victims.  

The first pilot projects were implemented in August 2002. In November 2005, six new pilot sites were set up, to run over the next three years. Both anecdotal and empirical evidence indicate that the program enhances victims’ feelings of safety, as well as increasing their physical safety. The early indicators of success have a positive impact on the victim’s experience if they are required to proceed through the Domestic Violence Court process.

The program acknowledges that the victim is the one who holds information about the history of the relationship and its potential lethality. In domestic violence cases in the program, where the accused is detained pending a bail hearing, a bail safety team interviews each victim before the bail hearing. At the time of the occurrence, the police ask the victim to come to a pre-bail interview the following day. If the victim does not arrive, a staff member with the Victim Witness Assistance Program (VWAP) calls the victim the next day to set up an interview time. Transportation is provided to the victim, if needed. When a victim is unable to physically come in for an interview, the interview is conducted on the telephone. The program is exploring the possibility of using video conferencing for interviews in remote locations. .

VWAP staff, police, and in some locations, the Crown Attorney, interview the victim, using a checklist that includes agreed-upon risk factors. The checklist was created utilizing the Domestic Violence Supplementary Report, as well as additional questions derived from current lethality and recidivism research. The interview focuses on a number of areas, including:

• The history of the relationship;
• Details of the family composition including questions pertaining to children, if applicable;
• Issues of power and control relating to the behaviour of the accused in the relationship;
• The victim’s perception of risk;
• The risk factor checklist completed by the police, which is reviewed by the interviewer.

During this interview, support, education, and safety discussions occur. The victim receives information and referrals concerning emergency and long-term housing, support, income support, immigration, and counseling from community agencies, including Children’s Aid societies. The victim is provided with the opportunity to discuss safety issues and concerns and staff members are given the opportunity to explain risk factors and the cycle of violence.

Police gather information about the accused person’s criminal record and access to weapons, as well as information about the proposed bail amount. Crown counsel reviews the file in its entirety, including the interview information and additional justice system history, before making bail recommendations.

The information gathered allows the Crown to tailor bail recommendations to the individual accused. If the accused is released, Crown counsel can seek conditions, based on this information, that contribute to the safety of the victim. Crown counsel will often seek conditions of release that include prohibiting the accused from attending at the victim’s residence, place of work, place of recreation, place of worship or homes of the victim’s family.

In the bail safety program, the victim immediately receives referrals, safety planning and support. This immediate support helps victims feel less isolated and more supported.  Where the victim feels supported, it is more likely she will reach out to the system again in the future, should the need arise.  The larger community is able to respond quickly to offer support to the victim because the referrals are made so early in the process. If the case is seen as high-risk, the bail pilot safety officer can take additional steps to manage the case more actively, to minimize the risk of future violence.

The bail safety pilot project is currently being evaluated at its new sites, to ensure they are as effective as the first sites have been at promoting victim safety and support in domestic violence cases at the bail stage, where victim safety is a critical issue.

Ruth Greenspan, Project Manager
Ontario Bail Safety Project
Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario