Review of the Nunavut Community Justice Program: Final Report
APPENDIX 6 - CONSULTATION GUIDELINES AND INTERVIEW GUIDES
INTERVIEW GUIDE
Justices of the Peace
Interviews with Justices of the Peace will be structured but open-ended. A set of information needs (listed below) will be addressed. Discussions that range beyond the information needs listed here will be included in the analysis as long as they are relevant to the program review.
Background Information
- Length of time as a JP.
- Length of time as a JP in this community.
- What training have you had as a JP?
Community Based Justice
- What are the main problems in the community?
- What kinds of offences occur here?
- Is the offending mainly by youth or adults?
- Are there community programs or facilities that help with crime prevention or with victims and offenders?
- Do you have a working relationship with the Community Justice Committee?
- If no, why not?
- If yes, describe the nature of the relationship.
- What do you see as the mandate and role of the Community Justice Committee?
- Do you think the Committee is effective in fulfilling its mandate? If not, why?
- Are there ways the Community Justice Committee could improve?
- As a JP, what do you need to enable you to do your job better?
- What does the Community Justice Committee need to enable it to do its job better; e.g., training?
Judges/Crowns/RCMP
- As a JP, describe your relationship with the Judges, the Crown Prosecutors and the RCMP.
- Are these relationships effective? If not, how could they be improved?
- Are there working relationships between the Community Justice Committee and the Judges and Crown Prosecutors?
- If so, what is the nature of these relationships? Are they effective? If not, how could they be improved?
- What is the nature of the relationships between the Judges/Crowns and the community itself?
- Are they effective? If not, how could they be improved?
Other Information/Comments
- Other comments or observations about community based justice in this community.
Legal Aid Lawyers
Interviews with legal aid lawyers will be structured but open-ended. A set of information needs (listed below) will be addressed. Discussions that range beyond the information needs listed here will be included in the analysis as long as they are relevant to the program review.
Background Information
- Length of time as a legal aid lawyer in Nunavut.
- Which communities do you serve?
Community Based Justice
- What are the main problems in the communities?
- What kinds of offences mainly occur?
- Is the offending mainly by youth or adults?
- Describe the process by which you interact with your clients.
- Are there problems in the process? If so, what are they and how could they be fixed (e.g., lack of time available to spend with clients prior to court)?
- Are there community programs or facilities that help with crime prevention or with victims and offenders?
- What do you see as the mandate and role of Community Justice Committees?
- Do you think the Committees are successful in achieving their mandates?
- Do you have a working relationship with Community Justice Committees?
- If no, why not?
- If yes, describe the nature of the relationship.
- With respect to post-charge diversions, do you inform your clients that in order to be referred they must understand that what they did was wrong and accept personal responsibility for their actions?
- If a client admits responsibility but is ultimately referred back to court by the Community Justice Committee, can he/she still plead not guilty? Is this a problem? If so, how could it be remedied?
- Are there ways the Community Justice Committees could improve?
- As a legal aid lawyer, what do you need to enable you to do your job better?
- What do Community Justice Committees need to enable it to do their job better; e.g., training?
Judges/Crowns/RCMP
- As a legal aid lawyer, describe your relationship with the Judges, the Crown Prosecutors and the RCMP.
- Are these relationships effective? If not, how could they be improved?
- Are there working relationships between the Community Justice Committees and the Judges and Crown Prosecutors?
- If so, what is the nature of these relationships? Are they effective? If not, how could they be improved?
- What is the nature of the relationships between the Judges/Crowns and the community itself?
- Are they effective? If not, how could they be improved?
Other Information/Comments
- Other comments or observations about community based justice in this community.
Crown Prosecutors
Interviews with Crown Prosecutors will be structured but open-ended. A set of information needs (listed below) will be addressed. Discussions that range beyond the information needs listed here will be included in the analysis as long as they are relevant to the program review.
Background Information
- Length of time as a Crown Prosecutor in Nunavut.
- In which communities do you most often prosecute cases?
Community Based Justice
- What are the main problems in the communities?
- What kinds of offences mainly occur?
- Is the offending mainly by youth or adults?
- What do you see as the role of Community Justice Committees?
- Do you have a working relationship with Community Justice Committees?
- If no, why not?
- If yes, describe the nature of the relationship.
- From your perspective, is there a problem with respect to paperwork (especially post-charge paperwork)? Is the Community Justice Committee responsible for certain paperwork? If so, what is it? Are all parties doing what is required of them? If not, how could this be improved?
- What is the mandate and role of the Community Justice Committees?
- In overall terms, are the Committees effective in carrying out their mandate? (Elaborate on this point.)
- Do you think pre-charge diversion and/or post-charge diversion are effective in the communities where they are applied? (Elaborate.)
- Which is preferable (if either) - pre-charge or post-charge diversion? Why?
- Are there ways the Community Justice Committees could improve?
- As a Crown, what do you need to enable you to do your job better?
- What do Community Justice Committees need to enable it to do their job better; e.g., training?
RCMP and Judges
- Describe the process by which you interact with the RCMP in the communities in which you prosecute cases.
- Are there problems in the process? If so, what are they and how could they be fixed (e.g., lack of time available to spend with local RCMP officers prior to court)?
- Are there working relationships between the Community Justice Committees and the Judges?
- If so, what is the nature of these relationships? Are they effective? If not, how could they be improved?
- What is the nature of the relationships between you and the community itself?
- Are they effective? If not, how could they be improved?
Other Information/Comments
- Other comments or observations about community based justice in this community.
Judges
Interviews with Judges will be structured but open-ended. A set of information needs (listed below) will be addressed. Discussions that range beyond the information needs listed here will be included in the analysis as long as they are relevant to the program review.
Background Information
- Where do you normally preside?
- Are there certain types of cases over which you would normally preside?
Community Based Justice
- Do you have a working relationship with any Community Justice Committees?
- If so, in which communities?
- What is the nature of the relationship?
- What do you see as the mandate and role of the Community Justice Committees?
- Do the responsibilities of Committees vary from community to community? If so, provide examples.
- Do you think the Community Justice Committees are effective in carrying out their mandates? If not, why?
- Are you supportive of pre-charge diversion to the Community Justice Committees?
- If not, why not?
- Are you supportive of post-charge diversion to the Community Justice Committees?
- If not, why not?
- Do you believe pre/post-charge diversion has been effective where it has been tried? (Elaborate with examples.)
- Do Elders sit with you at sentencing?
- If no, why not?
- If so, do you make these arrangements through the Community Justice Committee?
- Is Elder participation effective? If so, in what ways?
- After court, do you ever discuss a case just heard with the Elders with whom you sit? If so, is this beneficial?
- Do you think the Community Justice Committees are having a positive effect within the formal justice system? If so, how?
- Do you think the Community Justice Committees are having a positive effect in their communities in terms of alternatives to the formal justice system? If so, how?
- In your view, are there ways the Community Justice Committees could improve?
- What do the Community Justice Committees need to enable them to do their jobs better; e.g., training?
- Are there changes that would enable you to do your job more effectively as part of the community justice process?
Other Information/Comments
- Other comments or observations about community based justice in Nunavut.
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