Experts have advised the B.C. government to increase mental health crisis response teams, divert accused people with serious mental disorders from the criminal system, and create secure housing units for clients with complex mental health in order to address chronic criminal offenders.
Former deputy Vancouver police chief Doug LePard and health researcher and criminologist Amanda Butler studied the issue of repeat offenders and provided 28 recommendations to the province.
“This report confirms the complexity of the challenge,” said Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth. “The recommendations so how much more work we have to do.”
LePard and Butler, who were asked to study the issue of repeat offenders in May, are also recommending additional resources to support those released from custody.
“Unfortunately, there is a shortage of resources available to meet the needs of people who have been incarcerated when they are released. This is a crisis that must be ameliorated,” the report reads.
“Many people return to precarious housing, shelters or homelessness, and back to communities where they are at high risk of returning to crime because their needs remain unmet by the systems that should be supporting them.”
