Implementing The Life Line Concept: Report Of The Task Force On Long Term Offenders

Public Education Strategy

Public Education that promotes greater public understanding and support for the reintegration of long term offenders is the third major component of the Life Line Concept. This component has already been addressed in this report:

• in the section on Services Currently Available describing the activities of the In-Reach Workers and the Windsor Life Line Residence;
• in the section on the expansion of services, describing the need for the support and involvement of a broad range of community-based correctional agencies, better identification of the timing of what issues will be important and the involvement of a wide range of interests within and outside the justice system;
• in the recommended Scope of Work's Responsibility #6 for In-Reach Workers, namely to participate in education and awareness sessions for Correctional Service of Canada, National Parole Board, community organizations and the general public;
• in the section on Standards and Guidelines.

In this section, the strategy to develop the public education plan is elaborated. There are three important characteristics to highlight.

• 1. This should be more of an internal and external public education plan than a media relations plan, although dealing with the media will always be an important task.
• 2. It will be a serious exercise in consultation, with a wide range of individuals and groups, to develop, approve and implement such a plan. Thus, the overall goals, messages and timeframe have to be open to discussion and debate with potential partners, who must know that their concerns and views are being taken seriously in these discussions.
• 3. To be effective, the strategy must be developed and implemented at all three levels (national, regional and local). It should be noted that for activities at the operational (local) level, "communications specialists" cannot be relied upon to carry out the work of development, approval and implementation. While this means local managers of Correctional Service of Canada, National Parole Board and the various agencies will be using their valuable time to do this work, the results will more truly reflect local interests and accomplishments.

The approach to developing a comprehensive and cooperative public education strategy is as follows:

• Step #1: In order to achieve appreciation of the required elements of a successful reintegration process, it is important to know what has worked so far. This means acquiring statistics and conducting research as proposed earlier in this report. This is the WHY of the exercise.
• Step #2:The basic research will show the success rates of lifers and long term offenders released into the community, and some understanding of the factors contributing to their success and failure (both technical and reoffences). This will identify the Key Messages, the WHAT of the exercise.
• Step #3:Once the Why and What are identified, the next step is to identify the Target Audience. WHO needs to know this? WHERE should the message be delivered? WHEN should it be delivered?
• Step #4:The final stage is to identify various ways to successfully get the message out - this is the HOW of delivering it. This should also include identifying WHO could deliver the message, for example, successfully reintegrated long term offenders or lifers could deliver the message to selected audiences in partnership with a speaker from Correctional Service of Canada, National Parole Board, or an agency. Using success stories of other lifers or long term offenders who have been in the community for many years would illustrate that successful reintegration is possible. Aside from public speakers, there should also be written material - such as pamphlets and articles - for public education. Keeping the message clear, concise, and simple should also be a primary consideration.

It is recommended that a public education strategy be developed jointly by the three partners in this Task Force, using the Task Force report as a starting point.