4 ms·

How does this work in other counties such as the UK?

by jbb67 8y ago

gambiting 8y ago
Police can only hold you for up to 96 hours without charging you with a crime. Once you are charged with something and awaiting trial, you have to be tried within 56 days. If you are not tried within those 56 days you have to be released on unconditional bail - so courts tend to stick to those limits. Police can set up bail before the trail, but it cannot involve money - frequently it involves staying at a particular address, reporting to the police station daily, not contacting certain people etc - it depends on the severity of the crime, you cannot be released on bail for acts of violence or armed robbery for example. https://www.gov.uk/charged-crime/bail https://www.gov.uk/charged-crime/bail https://www.inbrief.co.uk/court-proceedings/remand-in-custody-while-awaiting-trial/ https://www.inbrief.co.uk/court-proceedings/remand-in-custod...
- buckminster 8y ago
  Since the government tightened up the bail rules the police have mostly stopped using it. Instead, you are "released under investigation". This has no legal meaning. It was invented by the police to deprive suspects of their bail rights.
- nkw 8y ago
  > you have to be tried within 56 days If this was attempted in the United States, and we wanted to maintain the due process protections afforded by our Constitution, we would have to fund our indigent defense programs at levels far, far beyond what anyone has been willing to do.
  - mjevans 8y ago
    If it isn't worth properly funding the /defense/ for then maybe the matter should just be dropped entirely. Should save quit a bit on paperwork, jail stays, and the prosecution as well.
michaelt 8y ago
In the UK, almost everyone released on bail is released on "their own recognisance" which is a fancy way of saying no money involved. Conditions can be attached, like living at a particular address and reporting to a police station weekly. Bail can be denied for serious/repeat offenders or if you're likely to run. There are also no bail bondsmen/bounty hunters; that role is taken on by the police. Failing to surrender can be punished with an increased sentence and being denied bail in the future - if you're caught.
elicash 8y ago
You don't have to go to other countries to see a different system -- the new DA in Philly (a reformist aligned with Black Lives Matter and other progressive causes) ended cash bail for low level offenses! https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/The-End-of-Cash-Bail-in-Philadelphia-District-Attorney-to-Issue-Policy-Change-474728233.html https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/The-End-of-Cash-B... The article also notes that "In 1991, Washington, D.C., ended its bail bond system and now releases nearly 90 percent of pretrial defendants."
tialaramex 8y ago
If you're charged with a serious crime, you just go to jail. If they think you'll probably flee, you just go to jail. If they think you'll hurt somebody before the trial, you just go to jail. Otherwise they figure out some rules (like "Don't go to Bill's house" or "Don't hang out with Frank and Simon") and then tell you that you need to come back for your trial and meanwhile you must obey the rules. If you break the rules, they might arrest you, and decide you now need to go to jail until the trial. If you forget to come back for the trial (obviously a few people deliberately flee, but remember these aren't like bank robbers or murderers, they're shoplifters or people who got into a fist fight, so most cases genuinely forgot, overslept, etcetera) the court tells the police you didn't show up, the police find and arrest you for breach of bail. Then you spend a night or two in a cell, awaiting your new court date. Since you were in a cell, ensuring you appear this time is much easier. For the type of people who forget, the humiliation and inconvenience of spending a night in a cell waiting for the new trial date is adequate "punishment" for their foolishness and wasting the court's time, they mostly look a bit forlorn when I've seen them, they're Spud from Trainspotting, not Begbie, or even Renton.

How does this work in other counties such as the UK?

by jbb67 8y ago

How does this work in other counties such as the UK?

Police can only hold you for up to 96 hours without charging you with a crime. Once you are charged with something and awaiting trial, you have to be tried within 56 days. If you are not tried within those 56 days you have to be released on unconditional bail - so courts tend to stick to those limits. Police can set up bail before the trail, but it cannot involve money - frequently it involves staying at a particular address, reporting to the police station daily, not contacting certain people etc - it depends on the severity of the crime, you cannot be released on bail for acts of violence or armed robbery for example. https://www.gov.uk/charged-crime/bail https://www.gov.uk/charged-crime/bail https://www.inbrief.co.uk/court-proceedings/remand-in-custody-while-awaiting-trial/ https://www.inbrief.co.uk/court-proceedings/remand-in-custod...

buckminster 8y ago
Since the government tightened up the bail rules the police have mostly stopped using it. Instead, you are "released under investigation". This has no legal meaning. It was invented by the police to deprive suspects of their bail rights.
nkw 8y ago
> you have to be tried within 56 days If this was attempted in the United States, and we wanted to maintain the due process protections afforded by our Constitution, we would have to fund our indigent defense programs at levels far, far beyond what anyone has been willing to do.
- mjevans 8y ago
  If it isn't worth properly funding the /defense/ for then maybe the matter should just be dropped entirely. Should save quit a bit on paperwork, jail stays, and the prosecution as well.

michaelt 8y ago

In the UK, almost everyone released on bail is released on "their own recognisance" which is a fancy way of saying no money involved. Conditions can be attached, like living at a particular address and reporting to a police station weekly. Bail can be denied for serious/repeat offenders or if you're likely to run. There are also no bail bondsmen/bounty hunters; that role is taken on by the police. Failing to surrender can be punished with an increased sentence and being denied bail in the future - if you're caught.

elicash 8y ago

You don't have to go to other countries to see a different system -- the new DA in Philly (a reformist aligned with Black Lives Matter and other progressive causes) ended cash bail for low level offenses! https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/The-End-of-Cash-Bail-in-Philadelphia-District-Attorney-to-Issue-Policy-Change-474728233.html https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/The-End-of-Cash-B... The article also notes that "In 1991, Washington, D.C., ended its bail bond system and now releases nearly 90 percent of pretrial defendants."

tialaramex 8y ago

If you're charged with a serious crime, you just go to jail. If they think you'll probably flee, you just go to jail. If they think you'll hurt somebody before the trial, you just go to jail. Otherwise they figure out some rules (like "Don't go to Bill's house" or "Don't hang out with Frank and Simon") and then tell you that you need to come back for your trial and meanwhile you must obey the rules. If you break the rules, they might arrest you, and decide you now need to go to jail until the trial. If you forget to come back for the trial (obviously a few people deliberately flee, but remember these aren't like bank robbers or murderers, they're shoplifters or people who got into a fist fight, so most cases genuinely forgot, overslept, etcetera) the court tells the police you didn't show up, the police find and arrest you for breach of bail. Then you spend a night or two in a cell, awaiting your new court date. Since you were in a cell, ensuring you appear this time is much easier. For the type of people who forget, the humiliation and inconvenience of spending a night in a cell waiting for the new trial date is adequate "punishment" for their foolishness and wasting the court's time, they mostly look a bit forlorn when I've seen them, they're Spud from Trainspotting, not Begbie, or even Renton.