FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 12, 2004


VANCOUVER – Street Crime is the focus of a Public Forum being held Wednesday April 14 at 7:00 pm at the Roundhouse Community Centre. The Forum is an initiative of the Justice Review Task Force Street Crime Working Group, with support from the Canadian Bar Association BC Branch and the Ministry of Attorney General. Members of the public and media are invited to attend.

Street crime is most often defined by what it is not – it does not include serious crimes such as murder, serious assault, commercial crime, etc. It is defined as the more visible kinds of crime you see and experience more personally in a community; crime that is random and public, such as property crime, that negatively affects the quality of life in a community.

The Street Crime Working Group includes the Chief Judge of BC and representatives from the Ministry of Attorney General, Vancouver Police Department, Vancouver Agreement, Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, Justice Canada, Ministry of Children and Family Development, BC Corrections, prosecutors and defence lawyers.

Guest speakers at the Forum will include Julius Lang, from the Center for Court Innovation in New York, and Jim Hayden, a “neighbourhood-based” District Attorney from Portland, Oregon. Ian Hanomansing, from CBC-TV, will host the Forum.

Note to Editors/Reporters
There will be a media feed box at the Forum.

The speakers from New York and Portland will be available for interviews on Tuesday April 13 and late morning Wednesday April 14. Contact Caroline Nevin, Canadian Bar Association BC Branch by email cnevin@bccba.org or 604.687.3404.

Elisabeth Burgess, Val Harrison, and other members of the Working Group can be reached through Debbie Granger, Ministry of Attorney General by email Debbie.Granger@gems4.gov.bc.ca or phone (604.660.1836).

The Attorney General of BC can be reached for comment through Director of Communications Curt Albertson (250.356.1196).

CBA Law Week events
Saturday April 17 Canadian Bar Association BC Branch -- Free legal advice by phone: Dial-A-Lawyer, 11-3pm, 604.687.3221 in the Lower Mainland, or toll free 1.800.663.1919. Mandarin speaking callers call 604.687.3404 or toll free 1.888.687.3404. 15 minute limit. Open House at the Vancouver Law Courts, with Attorney General and Chief Justices/Chief Judge, mock trials, justice displays, 10-2pm.