1. ELS BAIL

2. Bail Bail is the release from custody, pending a criminal trial, of an accused on the promise that money will be paid if he absconds. The decision to grant a bail thus deals with the delicate issue of balancing the interests of the accused as opposed to the interests of the police and court. A person is presumed innocent of a criminal charge unless he or she is proved guilty of it ; so no one should be ever detained unless he or she has been found guilty.

3. Bail Bail is the release from custody, pending a criminal trial, of an accused on the promise that money will be paid if he absconds. The decision to grant a bail thus deals with the delicate issue of balancing the interests of the accused (innocent until proven guilty) as opposed to the interests to society, to keep an accused in custody. a) A person is presumed innocent of a criminal charge unless he or she is proved guilty of it ; so no one should be ever detained unless he or she has been found guilty. b) On the other hand it is undesirable to allow some accused person to go back to society.

4. Bail The law tackles this sensitive balance with the basic presumption that bail should be offered unless otherwise shown. The issue of bail is tackled first by the police after a person is arrested and charged. The next stage at which bail comes to play is at the court, during the course of a trial, where an accused pleads not guilty.

5. Police Bail S38(1)(a) PACE states that : a person must be released unless a) his name and address are not known ; or b) the custody officer reasonably thinks that his detention is necessary for his own protection ; or c) to prevent him from injuiring someone or damaging property or because he might abscond or interfere with the course of justice. But see s 28 CJPOA 1994 which amends the powers of bail

6. Police Bail S 28 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (CJPOA) 1994 states that : a custody officer can now, in the case of an imprisonable offence, refuse to release an arrested person after charge if the officer has reasonable grounds for believing that the detention of that person is necessary to prevent him from committing any offence.

7. Police Bail S 27 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (CJPOA) 1994 creates the powers to grant conditional bail : S 27 allows the police to grant conditional bail to person charged. The conditions can be whatever is required to ensure that the person surrenders to custody, does not commit an offence while on bail, or does not interfere with witnesses or otherwise obstruct the course of justice. S29 allows the police to arrest, without warrant, some one who has breached the conditions of the conditional bail

8. COURT BAIL The Bail Act 1976 (BA) : created a statutory presumption of bail. It states : “a bail shall be granted (subject to schedule 1) to a person accused of an offence in a magistrate's court or a crown court and convicted people who are being remanded for reports to be made. The court must thus make a grant of bail even where such an application is not made”

9. COURT BAIL The Bail Act 1976 (BA) Schedule 1 provides that : “a court need not grant bail to a person charged with an offence punishable with imprisonment if it is satisfied that there are substantial grounds for believing that, if released on bail, the defendant would : 1) fail to surrender to custody ; 2) commit an offence while on bail ; or 3) interfere with witnesses or otherwise obstruct the course of justice.

10. COURT BAIL The Bail Act 1976 (BA) Schedule 1 provides that : Other grounds for refusing bail : 1.The defendant ought to stay in custody for his or her own protection or if it has not been practicable for want of time to obtain sufficient information to enable the court to make its decision on bail or he has previously failed to anwer bail. 2Other considerations are relevant factors including nature and seriousness of the offence, the character, antecdent, associations and community ties of the defendant and his record for satisfying his obligations under previous grants of bail.

11. COURT BAIL S 25 CJPOA 1994 provides that in some circumstances, a person who had been charged (before) with or convicted of murder, attempted murder, manslaughter, rape or attempted rape must not be granted bail. This section has been criticized as it takes away the power to consider granting bail by the court, and making remand automatic.

12. COURT BAIL Art 5 (3) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) states the method by which the court should decide bail : “ The decision of the court on which it makes it clear that the decision to remand a defendant in custody before trial must be a decision of the court based on merits after a review of facts” Thus bail must be decided by the court looking at the circumstances, and facts before it. The above clearly makes S25 CJPOA contradictory to the ECHR.

13. COURT BAIL Caballero v United Kingdom (2000) the ECHR court found that, S25 violated rights under Art 5(3) where the claimant had been denied bail on a rape charge in 1996 because of a conviction for manslaughter in 1987. But S25 CJPOA has been amended since by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998

14. COURT BAIL The crime and Disorder Act 1998 provides that : bail should only be granted in homicide and rape cases if the court is “satisfied that there are exceptional circumstances which justify it”. This still goes against the presumption of innocence as it merely softens the S25 CJPOA requirement.