bail

• any person arrested for, accused of or charged with an offence should be released under a duty to attend court or the police station at a specified time
• they can be granted by the police either at the station or following the criminal justice act 2003 at the place of arrest, this is known as street bail
• Bail can also be granted by the courts
• Bail Act 1976

  • s4 : presumption that D should receive bail
  • bail would be granted unless there are substantial grounds for believing that D would : fail to surrender to bail, commit another offence, obstruct justice
  • when assessing the risk, the court will consider factors such as : the seriousness of the offence, the likely sentence, the defendants character, previous convictions, D’s community ties
• heard that restrictions on bail

  • Those charged with murder, manslaughter, or rape will not be granted bail if they have a previous conviction for such an offence unless there are exceptional circumstances
  • bail will not be granted accused needs to be kept in custody for their own protection, is already in prison for another offence or more time is needed to find out about whether they should be given bail
• conditions on bail

  both the police and the courts can place conditions under the grant of bail such as :

  • surrendering passport
  • report to police station
  • obtain legal advice
  • give a security
• issues with bail

  • the criminal justice act 2003 introduced a presumption against bail if a person is charged with an imprisonable offence if they test positive for a class A drug and refuse treatment, unless the circumstances are exceptional
  • this can be argued to breach article 5 of the European convention on human rights which safeguards the right to freedom of the person
• issues with bail

  • another issue with bail was the prevalence of offences being committed when the accused was already on bail, to this end the criminal justice and public order act 1994 banned bail for those charged of murder, manslaughter, or rape if they have previous conviction for such an offence
  • this was in breach of the European convention on human rights and the crime and disorder act 1998 has amended the law so that a person in the circumstances will only be granted bail if exceptional circumstances justify it