working and what wasn't. And the most glaring finding was that the prob-
ability of high-risk, high-need offenders recidivating was in the eighty-
percent range, unless you engaged them in programs and could reduce
that by a third. Whereas, if you left low-risk, low-need offenders alone,
the chances of recidivating was about thirty percent, but if you engaged
with them, you tripled that rate. The direction was clear, take a low inter-
vention approach to low-risk, low-need offenders in the system. Those
were some interesting statistics that allowed the Branch to start rethinking
their programmatic approaches—with the Justice Institute as the primary
source of training and accessing resource people like Andrews to put ona
conference for staff—and then using the Institute to build on that. As the
various core programs were developed, probation officers were brought
from around the province to the JI to train them in risk-needs assessment
and programs on interventions.

“The other important thing from my perspective at the JI was a
program I was personally involved in starting in 1995 called Night Hoops,
a free, late-night basketball program in an environment supported by
Basketball BC, the Vancouver School Board, Vancouver City Police, the
RCMP and the Justice Institute, among others. I had done some analysis
that showed about ninety-two percent of offences by young offenders were
committed late at night when they didn’t have many options.

“With federal and provincial funding and the Vancouver Griz-
zlies, then an NBA team, we hired people who were previously employed
through an employment program and trained them in conflict resolu-
tion and the Young Offenders Act and gave them all level 2 training and
coaching at the JI. Under a contract with the Branch, the JIBC developed a
model for training these coaches. Rob Chong, Peter Stevens and their team
at the Institute were instrumental in putting that together and did all of the
training there.

“To get into the program the boys and girls are referred by proba-
tion officers, counsellors, teachers or school administrators, youth recre-
ation workers and other social service professionals. The JI formalized the
training for the coaches-cum-counsellors who spent thirty-five hours a
week with the kids, integrating them into the school system, often taking
them and picking them up and meeting with their teachers. It’s a good
example of how the JI responded and were flexible and positive enough to
get that together and make that happen for us. The Night Hoops program is
still running to this day.’

Probation officers have a broad range of responsibilities that demand
an equally broad knowledge base and skill-set. In 1996, resulting from the
government's implementation of the Gove Commission report, probation
officer roles were split into working with youth and adults. Youth probation
became part of the newly formed Ministry for Children and Family Devel-

Probation Officer
Sean Donley

Based in Kelowna, Sean
Donley, a senior probation
officer with the Corrections
Branch of the Ministry of
Public Safety and Solici-
tor General, was in 2000
one of the first probation
officers in training to take
courses over the internet instead of at the Justice
Institute.

“| was really happy to be part of a pro-
cess that seemed to work better for everyone,
including my family and me. Instead of going to
New Westminster for three months, | took the
training in my office under the guidance of a men-
tor in Kelowna and an instructor in New West-
minster. Online learning had sorne growing pains
at the time. but it allowed me the freedom to be
with my family every night. Now it seems to be
a well-oiled machine that gives new probation
officers the freedom to train where they want to
work

“Part of the training Is still in New West-
minster because you need to develop interview-
ing skills and understand the level of hostility that
you tnight encounter in ieal situations. In these
simulation sessions, actual probation officers play
the role of offenders and they know from experi-
ence what you can encounter | took some Justice
Institute conflict resolution classes as well, which
were fabulous for other situations, but the sce-
narios were not hostile or angry enough for what
probation officers have to deal with.

“All the training I've received from the
JI, and I've continued to take specialized courses,
has gone tar above and beyond the minimum
The JI's courses gave me a fabulous base to build
the skills and the knowledge | use as a probation
officer every day.”

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