Sentencing Commission plots future for bail

First report calls for changes to restore public confidence and increase compliance by accused

News, 6 April 2005

The Sentencing Commission for Scotland has published its first report, on the use of bail and remand, one of the priority subjects identified by the Executive when setting up the Commission in late 2003.

A priority for the Commission, which has made a total of 38 recommendations, is reducing reoffending on bail through enhanced supervision, including extending the use of electronic monitoring if the forthcoming Executive pilot arrangements prove a success.

It also wants to increase public confidence in the system by imposing new duties on the justice services to ensure the public are made aware of the reasons for granting, or refusing, bail and remand, for each case; and through more guidelines and training for prosecutors and the judiciary to improve the consistency of decision-making.

Introducing the report, the Commission's judicial chairman Lord MacLean said there was "a difficult but necessary balance to be struck between, on the one hand, protecting the right of accused persons to be treated reasonably and fairly, and, on the other hand, recognising the interests of public safety and the smooth operation of judicial proceedings".

The Commission proposes stronger protection for victims and witnesses by extending bail conditions prohibiting contact with individuals at particular addresses, to specified areas like a street or postcode area. There should be more investment in innovative alternatives to remand, such as the "218" centre for women in Glasgow; and tougher sanctions for those who flout the courts by failing to appear in court without a reasonable excuse.

The Commission believes that taken as a whole these recommendations should make a material improvement. It accepts that dealing more robustly with those who fail to observe bail conditions could cause some short-term increase in the prison population. However it believes that the greater transparency it is encouraging should mean that respect for the law in this area is restored.

Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson welcomed the report but called in addition for bailed accused who fail to appear for trial, to be tried in absence, at least in summary cases. She promised that the Executive would consider the report and respond formally by the summer.

Lord MacLean is now standing down from the Commission, having been appointed to chair a judicial inquiry into the death of Billy Wright in Maze Prison. He is succeeded at the Commission by Lord Macfadyen.