5 ms·

So they can hold you for 51 days and you just have to sit in jail until your trial?

gambiting 8y ago
No, you can be released on conditional bail, but it cannot be tied to money. Commonly the conditions include reporting to the police station every day, not contacting certain people, staying at home except for certain hours etc.
- troupe 8y ago
  In the US, bail is used to make sure people show up for their court date. How does this work in the UK?
  - gambiting 8y ago
    If someone is a flight risk, they are not given any bail and just sit tight for those 51 days. But being given bail and not showing up to court results in far harsher sentence, so it's a shit game to play.
Fnoord 8y ago
You do get reimbursed if you sat in jail for no reason. Right?
- gambiting 8y ago
  Not for the time spent waiting for trial. You only get compensation if you were wrongly convicted.
  - Fnoord 8y ago
    So you can be waiting for trial, not get convicted (for whatever reason), and not get reimbursed for being wrongfully in jail?
    - gambiting 8y ago
      Unfortunately, yes. It's the same in both US and UK. You can sue the state for loss of income/whatever, but those cases are not always successful - all they need to prove is that they had reasonable reason to keep you in jail, even if you were found innocent at the end.
      - Fnoord 8y ago
        Thank you for the information. Do you know how this works in the rest of the world?
    - tialaramex 8y ago
      Roughly yes. The rationale is that you were not "wrongfully" in jail. You were held in the jail because prosecutors believed you'd be found guilty of a crime (which you subsequently were found innocent of) and the court believed that you were either too dangerous or too likely to abscond if you weren't held against your will. In principle if you can show that these beliefs were unreasonable (not just wrong, but not even reasonable beliefs for the court officials to hold) you might be able to get somewhere, but I suspect a decent lawyer would tell you that this bar is too high. Conviction rate for people who go to trial in the UK is very high, because the "Full Code Test" for prosecutors tells them to never prosecute people unless they're convinced the evidence they have will support a conviction for each charge they specify.
  - ekianjo 8y ago
    wow so if you lose your job because of that, bad luck I guess?
    - pbhjpbhj 8y ago
      Maybe, don't do things that a reasonable person would consider makes you likely beyond reasonable doubt to have committed a serious crime? Or is that too great an expectation? Would be interesting to read some real life info and stats on this.
      - beat 8y ago
        What do you mean by "serious crime"? If we draw a line at "felony", well... how many people wind up in jail for inability to make bail for misdemeanors? And for how long? I'm pretty sure you can google that kind of thing. Also, "beyond a reasonable doubt" is the legal grounds for conviction, not arrest. "Probable cause" is the grounds for arrest, a far lower standard.
        pbhjpbhj 8y ago
        This subthread is UK specific, so the number in jail for non-payment of bail is zero. Probable cause isn't a UK test -- we use [reasonable] suspicion -- but one needs far more evidence than that to retain someone in prison. CPS don't take cases to trial without an expectation of success; non serious crimes (and some serious ones) don't result in prison so aren't pertinent. Suspicion is an even lower bar, but the charge officer won't even admit someone into custody without evidence (though that evidence has a far lower bar than is required for conviction). So you get out 24 hrs later, the police caught the perp who just happened to match your description and locality. Surely the downside is just part of society functioning, do you really need compensating? Legal protection for your job, seems like it should be in place though.
        gambiting 8y ago
        Not to mention that it would be illegal for your employer to fire you over it, especially if you were only detained for 24-96 hours.

No, you can be released on conditional bail, but it cannot be tied to money. Commonly the conditions include reporting to the police station every day, not contacting certain people, staying at home except for certain hours etc.

troupe 8y ago
In the US, bail is used to make sure people show up for their court date. How does this work in the UK?
- gambiting 8y ago
  If someone is a flight risk, they are not given any bail and just sit tight for those 51 days. But being given bail and not showing up to court results in far harsher sentence, so it's a shit game to play.

Fnoord 8y ago

You do get reimbursed if you sat in jail for no reason. Right?

gambiting 8y ago
Not for the time spent waiting for trial. You only get compensation if you were wrongly convicted.
- Fnoord 8y ago
  So you can be waiting for trial, not get convicted (for whatever reason), and not get reimbursed for being wrongfully in jail?
  - gambiting 8y ago
    Unfortunately, yes. It's the same in both US and UK. You can sue the state for loss of income/whatever, but those cases are not always successful - all they need to prove is that they had reasonable reason to keep you in jail, even if you were found innocent at the end.
    - Fnoord 8y ago
      Thank you for the information. Do you know how this works in the rest of the world?
  - tialaramex 8y ago
    Roughly yes. The rationale is that you were not "wrongfully" in jail. You were held in the jail because prosecutors believed you'd be found guilty of a crime (which you subsequently were found innocent of) and the court believed that you were either too dangerous or too likely to abscond if you weren't held against your will. In principle if you can show that these beliefs were unreasonable (not just wrong, but not even reasonable beliefs for the court officials to hold) you might be able to get somewhere, but I suspect a decent lawyer would tell you that this bar is too high. Conviction rate for people who go to trial in the UK is very high, because the "Full Code Test" for prosecutors tells them to never prosecute people unless they're convinced the evidence they have will support a conviction for each charge they specify.
- ekianjo 8y ago
  wow so if you lose your job because of that, bad luck I guess?
  - pbhjpbhj 8y ago
    Maybe, don't do things that a reasonable person would consider makes you likely beyond reasonable doubt to have committed a serious crime? Or is that too great an expectation? Would be interesting to read some real life info and stats on this.
    - beat 8y ago
      What do you mean by "serious crime"? If we draw a line at "felony", well... how many people wind up in jail for inability to make bail for misdemeanors? And for how long? I'm pretty sure you can google that kind of thing. Also, "beyond a reasonable doubt" is the legal grounds for conviction, not arrest. "Probable cause" is the grounds for arrest, a far lower standard.
      - pbhjpbhj 8y ago
        This subthread is UK specific, so the number in jail for non-payment of bail is zero. Probable cause isn't a UK test -- we use [reasonable] suspicion -- but one needs far more evidence than that to retain someone in prison. CPS don't take cases to trial without an expectation of success; non serious crimes (and some serious ones) don't result in prison so aren't pertinent. Suspicion is an even lower bar, but the charge officer won't even admit someone into custody without evidence (though that evidence has a far lower bar than is required for conviction). So you get out 24 hrs later, the police caught the perp who just happened to match your description and locality. Surely the downside is just part of society functioning, do you really need compensating? Legal protection for your job, seems like it should be in place though.
        gambiting 8y ago
        Not to mention that it would be illegal for your employer to fire you over it, especially if you were only detained for 24-96 hours.