Current system for granting or refusing bail.

Authors Avatar

  1. Describe the current system for granting or refusing bail

Bail can be granted by the police, magistrates, and the crown court. Bail is granted when a suspected offender is not remanded in custody. They are usually at liberty until the next stage of the case, usually trial.

The Bail Act 1976 states that there is a presumption in favour of bail, but for an offence while already on bail, bail will only be given if the court is satisfied there are no significant risks of re-offending. There must also be exceptional circumstances for bail to be granted for murder, attempted murder, manslaughter, rape or attempted rape where the defendant has already served a custodial sentence for such an offence. These conditions are set out in s.56 of the Crime and Disorder act 1998.

Bail can also be outright refused if there are reasonable grounds for believing that the defendant would fail to surrender, would commit further offence, or would interfere with witnesses.

Bail can be unconditional where they will assume that the defendant will turn up, or there can be conditions imposed. One may be a surety, where someone will be ordered to take responsibility if the person does not turn up to trial, and will have to pay a sum of money to the courts. This promise is known as a recognisance and no money will be paid unless the defendant fails to answer his bail. Other conditions that may be imposed are things such as requesting the resignation of passport, a residence in a bail hostel, a curfew, etc.

Join now!

When not granting bail, the police must bring the defendant to a Magistrates Court at first possible opportunity. If the magistrates refuse bail, only further application can be made to magistrate, unless a change of circumstances arises. An appeal can be made to the judge at a Crown Court.

When deciding bail, four factors are considered. The nature or seriousness of the offence, previous records of the defendant turning up to bail, the defendants character and past record with associations and community ties, and finally the strength of the evidence against the defendant.

In terrorism, bail ...

This is a preview of the whole essay