Justice Reform Initiatives ~ Early Solutions, Faster Justice

The Ministry of Attorney General, along with other justice, health and social service ministries, has embarked on a three-year plan to ensure the justice system meets the needs of individuals, families, businesses and communities - in a more cost effective, timely and meaningful way. The three-year plan is built around the concept of early solutions and faster justice.

In a practical sense, this means that the ministry and other agencies are working to bring together integrated teams of justice, health and social service providers to deliver supports in a holistic way, build partnerships for joint solutions, update legislation and practices and take other necessary steps to improve justice services.

The approach is multi-faceted, for a very complex justice system. The changes aim to help people find new ways of resolving disputes and doing so earlier in the process. They will help chronic offenders deal with the issues that push them into a life of crime. They will lead to a justice system that is easier to understand and use and where the time and cost needed to obtain an outcome are proportionate to the value of the problem. And they will seek to reduce and prevent crime.

This involves, for example:

  • improving access to justice-related information
  • revising court rules to make them simpler
  • offering collaborative dispute resolution options outside the court process, and
  • offering early assessment of cases to determine the types of services that would most help people to resolve legal concerns or issues that lead to criminal behaviour.

The justice reform initiatives website provides information for the public, policy makers and professionals on key concepts in justice reform and on justice reform in B.C.

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