NASSAU- For years, the police have blamed people on bail for high crime rates, leading many to call for the refusal of bail for those accused of serious crimes.
This shows a general misunderstanding of the role of bail in the criminal justice system.
One of the most basic protections afforded to people accused of crimes, is the presumption of innocence.
Once police arrest and charge a person with a crime, they are not convicted.
They are presumed innocent until a court finds them guilty.
Consequently, it is not right to detain an innocent person for an extended period without a conviction.
This is where bail comes into play.
Courts can release persons accused of crimes on bail on the condition that they will appear for further court hearings. The accused can either post cash bail or have a suretor sign a guarantee until the case is over.
One of the benefits of granting bail is that it also reduces a burden on the public purse.
It is expensive to hold all accused persons in custody until their trial.
Due to the backlog in the court system, it could take years for a trial to be heard.
According to the 2010 Annual Prison Report, the yearly cost for maintaining an inmate was $16,151.13. What’s more, a 2020 IDB report, said The Bahamas’ prison has an overcrowding rate of 173 percent. However, most of those detainees haven’t been convicted.
Nonetheless, bail can still be denied in the interest of public safety or the safety of the accused. However, the prosecution must produce convincing evidence that releasing an accused will result in further crimes, or the accused will not return for trial.
Still, the Court of Appeal has said a judge cannot deny bail because a person is accused of reoffending while on bail.
The Court said the judge must assess the evidence on which the new charge is based.
In the 2021 case of Stephon Davis, the Court ruled that a judge was wrong to deny him bail because he was accused of a new murder charge.
The Court ruled that the evidence that the prosecution proposed to present at trial was not sufficient to justify the deprivation of his liberty by arrest, charge, and detention.
As a result, he was granted $25,000 bail with reporting and curfew conditions.
Copyright Bahamas Court News 2022
