Identify Conditions For Bail In The Bail Act, 1976 And Critically Consider Where The Subsequent Changes Have Altered The Balance In Favour Of The Community
Law (MS) 5/12/2002 Identify Conditions For Bail In The Bail Act, 1976 And Critically Consider Where The Subsequent Changes Have Altered The Balance In Favour Of The Community In this essay I will look at the process of bail, looking specifically at the Bail Act, 1976 and the reasons as to why people are either granted or refused bail. Any person arrested for an offence may be granted bail. This simply means that the person is released from the station, but is required to attend either court or the police station at a requested time. The Bail Act, 1976, contains reasons for both the granting and refusal of bail. The custody officer will listen to the investigating officer(s) and depending on the person meeting the criteria to be released the custody officer will bail them. In general people who have not been previously convicted would expect to get bail. However, there are several reasons for the refusal of bail. For example it is believed the suspect will; * Interfere in any other way with a witness * Tamper with evidence * Fail to surrender to custody * Breaking their conditions of bail. The court may also refuse to give bail for several reasons: * The offence is very serious for example rape or murder * There is substantial evidence against the suspect * The suspect has been previously convicted of the same crime (which could make it likely for
Explain and comment on the main reforms made to the civil justice system after the Woolf Report.
Assignment for English Legal System a) Explain and comment on the main reforms made to the civil justice system after the Woolf Report. It is essential to reform the legal system in order to maintain the contemporary and evolving society - without which the system cannot survive. Legislation made in the early nineteenth century was found to be unfit due to the rapid progressing society, however, the fact that laws appear out of date does not necessarily mean that they will technically cease to apply; such legislation still stands valid until it is repealed. During the power of the Conservative Government, Lord Woolf was appointed to carry out an extensive review of the civil justice system, which was created to resolve disputes between companies or individuals who felt that their rights had been affected. In July 1996, after two years of intensive research, the Access to Justice: Final Report was published by Lord Woolf in which he stated that the civil justice system should: (a) be just in the results it delivers; (b) be fair in the way it treats litigants; (c) offer appropriate procedures at a reasonable cost; (d) deal with cases with reasonable speed; (e) be understandable to those who use it; (f) be responsive to the needs of those who use it; (g) provide as much certainty as the nature of particular cases allows; and (h) be effective: adequately
Describe the rights during detention at a police station of an individual suspected of a serious offence.
Describe the rights during detention at a police station of an individual suspected of a serious offence. Every individual in detention including those suspected of a serious offence have a set of rights which are outlined in Code C of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE). S56 of PACE gives the suspect the right to a phone call to inform someone of their arrest, if the suspect is under the age of 17 then they have the right to inform a parent or guardian of their arrest. For someone suspected of a serious offence this phone call may be delayed for 36 hours to protect evidence or to prevent harm to others. S56 of PACE states that a suspect has the right to legal advice/solicitor however for an indictable offence a senior officer may delay this for up to 36 hours for the same reasons as delaying a phone call. This decision to delay can only be justified on rare occasions and must be based on specific aspects of the case; like in the case R v Samuel, his mother was informed of the arrest though a phone call, then access to a solicitor was refused which was unnecessary as any reasons for the refusal would have already occurred as a result of the phone call, therefore the evidence was inadmissible in court and the conviction for robbery was quashed. Code C sets out that a detainee has the right to a well lit, heated and ventilated cell and also the right to two light
R v David Smith. - ABH, criminal law
R v David Smith a) The Prosecutors Submission: The Defendant is charged with two cases of assault occasioning Actual Bodily Harm, according to Section 47 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861, arising out of an incident that occurred in Theobald Road, Smallville on the 11th of August 2003. This is an aggravated assault, and the Prosecution must prove an unlawful assault which caused the victim to sustain an injury that is more than merely 'trifling' or 'superficial,' but as long as the injury is 'not so trivial as to be insignificant,' it shall suffice. The defendant has pleaded guilty to both of the charges. In a brief summary of the facts, David Smith was alone in his car on the early morning of the 11th of August 2003. Whilst driving along Lansdowne Road, he turned into Beda Road and upon seeing a marked police traffic patrol vehicle, stuck his fingers out of the window and made an obscene gesture at the Police officer operating the marked vehicle. David Smith then turned into Brunswick Street, driving in the middle of the road, causing a taxi to take evasive action. Mr Smith proceeded to make a number of left and right turns whilst travelling at speeds of up to sixty miles per hour in a thirty miles per hour residential area. Mr Smith got out of his vehicle at the end of Lansdowne Road and ran away from the police car in a Westerly direction. After being chased by
Non-fatal Offences?
How satisfactory is the current law on Non-fatal Offences? Non-fatal offences against the person are assault, battery, assault or battery occasioning actually bodily harm (ABH), malicious wounding and Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH) with intent. The first two offences are defined in the Criminal Justice Act 1988, with the remainder being found in the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 (OAPA). There is a variety of sentences available ranging from imprisonment for six months to a life sentence for the most serious offence of GBH with intent (s.18 OAPA 1861). Moreover it could be argued that the current law on non fatal offences is not satisfactory and it is long over due for reform. Professor Horder of the Law Commission has stated that it is time to 'rethink non fatal offences against the person'. He has also argued that 'the desire for certainty and the fair labeling principle point to the need for greater distinctions between offences'. However to further this Henry LJ describes the current law as 'yet another example of how dreadful and appalling the present state of law is'.It is then no surprise that there are numerous calls for reform in this area. First it may be argued that the offences are poorly defined. There is still no clear statutory definition of assault and battery. Nevertheless the sentencing guidelines are found under s39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988.
Principles of Sentencing
Principles of Sentencing There are five general aims or functions or justifications of punishment: . Deterrence There is a belief that punishment for crime can deter people from offending. There are two forms: · Specific deterrence is concerned with punishing an individual offender in the expectation that he will not offend again. · General deterrence is related to the possibility that people in general will be deterred from committing crime by the threat of punishment if they are caught. How this aim is effected · Prison sentence/long prison sentence · Heavy fine Effectiveness Imprisonment, the most serious punishment in the UK, does not always deter further offending: · According to a Home Office study, 58% of all sentenced prisoners discharged in 1995 were reconvicted of a serious offence within two years of being released. Among young offenders, 76% were reconvicted (Reconviction of Offenders Sentenced or Released from Prison in 1995, April 1999). At least two points are assumed to be essential for deterrence to be effective: . Supporters of deterrence believe that the punishment must be sufficiently severe for it to have a deterrent effect. This assumption can be tested by examining an instance where the level of punishment was altered. · In 1965, the death penalty was abolished as a punishment for murder. Research indicates that this change had no
Describe how both the police and magistrates decide matters relating to the granting of bail to a person awaiting trial
Describe how both the police and magistrates decide matters relating to the granting of bail to a person awaiting trial Bail is the release of a criminal defendant in exchange for security to insure his/her appearance in court on the day and time appointed. The form of security given in exchange for bail is usually in the form of money yet can also be surety, where by a person unrelated to the charge in question will stand as assurance that the criminal defendant will appear at court on the appointed day. Every person brought before a court in criminal proceedings has a right to presume unconditional bail. There are, however, exceptions to these presumptions. In the case of an indictable offence where the defendant is charged with a very serious offence, for example murder and s/he has been previously charged with such an offence in the past. A very rare occurrence is the charge of treason by which no bail is granted and a number of dormant statutes come into effect. When considering the granting of any form bail, be it conditional or unconditional, the parties involved must consider the answers to a set of questions that outline whether or not the defendant should be granted bail. These include considerations with relation to the seriousness of the offence and the strength of evidence against it. Also taken in to account are the kind of sentence likely to be issued if the
Evaluate the impact that government policies on war and terrorism have on UK law, the armed forces and society.
Evaluate the impact that government policies on war and terrorism have on UK law, the armed forces and society. War is the most powerful threat we have on the earth today. War can accomplish a variety of things in a variety of ways and it is entirely up to the government to decide to send their country to war. Of course, a government will take into account the general population's opinion, which has the choice to support or oppose the decisions made by their government, but most countries are divided between pro and anti-war sentiments. Since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 in America and the London Bombings on July 7th 2005, the UK government, along with the US, have declared a 'War on Terror.' At present, the campaign is ongoing in Afghanistan, the base for al-Qaeda, which has became the global target for anti-terrorism action in the name of eradicating terrorists and preventing future attacks. This has had both negative and positive effects on not only British and American nationals but also Afghanistan and its people. Thousands of Afghani civilians have lost their homes, many more killed. The existing poverty throughout their country has increased dramatically with the outbreak of war, with food and water shortages threatening their survival. Many have become refugees, fleeing into neighbouring Pakistan, among other countries, to escape the conflict and seek
The Canadian Justice system towards aboriginal offenders
Most legal scholars will concede that the failure of the Canadian Justice system towards aboriginal offenders is one of the nation's most profound disgraces. It is a system where aboriginal peoples are systematically disadvantaged, with the inevitable consequences of overrepresentation in prisons and soaring rates of recidivism. Promising initiatives to address these problems have only recently begun to trump the established policy of blaming the aboriginal community for the heightened levels of criminality. One proposed alternative to the conventional justice process is a model of social healing called sentencing circles. Derived from aboriginal values of reconciliation, the sentencing circle is a physical manifestation of the principles of restorative justice with an adherence to the sentencing provisions in the Criminal Code of Canada. This paper offers a critical evaluation of the potential for sentencing circles to rectify the injustices towards aboriginal peoples in the criminal justice system. It begins with an examination of the differences between aboriginal and Euro- Canadian concepts of justice and why there is a need to seek an alternative form of sentencing. The argument is then put forth that the use of sentencing circles should be confined to aboriginal offenders, as it would be neither cost- efficient nor culturally relevant to implement in all justice systems.
Critically evaluate the aims and consequences of sentencing and show how the laws regarding sentencing currently stand in England and Wales.
Criminal Justice: Assignment 1 In this assignment I intend to critically evaluate the aims and consequences of sentencing and show how the laws regarding sentencing currently stand in England and Wales. I will show how sentencing an offender works, and how judges come to their decisions. I also intend to show what the aims of sentencing set out to achieve. Sentencing is a particularly important aspect in the Criminal Justice System in operation within England and Wales. It must be determined, to define what sentencing does, what it can do what it could achieve and whether or not it endorses the aims it is given. At present, there is not one specific aim of the Criminal Justice System. According to the current Home Office Statement which has been released, the aims of the Criminal Justice System is "to build a safe, just and tolerant society, in which rights and responsibilities of individuals, families and communities are balanced, and the protection and security of the public are maintained". There are many opinions as to what sentences are actually meant to achieve. Punishment is categorised as guilt, blame, pain or humiliation. Many of the general public believe that a sentence should be passed to punish an offender although in some cases this may not necessarily be the correct sentence to pass. In Tyrer v United Kingdom (1978) A 26, Eur Ct of H.R the question of
