Bail. Under S.4 of the Bail Act 1976 there is a presumption that un convicted suspects will be given bail. This ties in with the fact that everyone is innocent until proven guilty

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Assignment 2.11

Bail means a person is allowed to be at liberty, rather than held in custody while awaiting the next stage of the case. The right to bail has been reduced in recent years amid concern that individuals on bail reoffend and fail to turn up at court for their trial. Fourteen percent of those bailed to appear at court fail to do so according to the Criminal Justice Statistics 2003, another statistic says nearly twenty-five percent of defendants commit at least one offence while on bail. The criteria for granting or refusing bail are contained in the Bail ct 1976. There is a general presumption in favour of bail for un convicted defendants but there are some important exceptions. Bail need not be granted where there are substantial grounds for believing that, unless kept in custody, the accused would fail to surrender to bail, or would commit an offence and the probable sentence, along with the character, antecedents, associations and community ties of the defendant. The Act which makes the decision on bail is the need to protect the public Vs all suspects are innocent until proven guilty.

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Under S.4 of the Bail Act 1976 there is a presumption that un convicted suspects will be given bail. This ties in with the fact that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. However, the general public have the right to be protected from criminals. This means that the criminal justice system must balance this against the freedoms of individuals. At present, the policy is leaning towards protection of the public. The defendant therefore, has a right to bail unless the court feels the suspect comes under one of the exceptions to the rule. Bail means a person is released ...

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Summary: a basically accurate outline of when bail should be granted in criminal cases. There is some repetition and some comments need further development. Rating: ***