Cases in adult criminal courts are taking longer to complete. In 2006/2007, it took on average eight months to dispose of a case in adult court. This was considerably longer than the average of six months five years earlier.Think Paul Bernardo. After that video tape surfaced, it should have been all over. Think Willy Pickton and the eyewitness testimony and the various piles of body parts.
Longer times to complete cases may be in part due to an increase in the proportion of cases involving multiple charges. Cases involving multiple charges represented 60% of the adult caseload in 2006/2007, compared with 57% five years earlier and 53% a decade earlier.
There's gotta be a way to streamline this mess.
**********
RELATED: And... speaking of messes
Another child-welfare agency in Manitoba is under review following allegations of questionable financial practices, the provincial government revealed Thursday.*
The Cree Nation Child and Family Caring Agency has been under review since last 2007, but Family Services Minister Gord Mackintosh only made it public Thursday.