End of innocent until proven guilty

* This refers to a liberal as aperson who favours freedom and equality. Conservative= a person opposed to change and wants traditional values e.g Australian Liberal party


In 2011 the NSW government decided to instigate a comprehensive review of the Bail Act due to its complex nature, the fact that a high amount of young people were on remand (many later found not guilty) and criticisms from within the criminal justice system.

The NSW government asked the NSW Law Reform Commission to report on law reform.
The report was released a year later and delivered it recommedations in 2012. It was described as 'unitelligible' and was very difficult for judges and magistrates due to its contradictory nature.

The last was enacted last year and came into operation in May 2014.

Since May 20 the headlines and comments from the tabloid media have included:

Another bail disgrace
Society loses when accused walk free- the laws are an obscene joke
Comparisons were made with the Victorian Jill Meagher case
The laws are 'buggered' and 'broken'

The result- after a long and comprehensive review and reform process. The Baird NSW government decided to review the new Bail Act from 2013. During this time a number of cases have been highlighted by the media. It appears that an accused person who is an 'unacceptable risk' and then denied bail is not strong enough for the media.

So after a short review by one person (the previous Attorney General) the new law was altered so that now a person charged with a serious offence has to prove that they should be granted bail. In order to gain liberty prior to being found guilty the accused has the onus of proof not the prosecution.

Read the ABC link for more info.

Lets look again at why the laws were originally reviewed.

• Remand has a large impact upon the recidivist rate of those people who are in a prison
• The difficulty in gaining bail had a significant impact on juveniles and Aboriginal accused.
• 34% of accused found guilty in the Local Courts (on remand) were not given a custodial sentence, plus 8% found not guilty yet held on remand
• For children 26% found guilty were not given a control order plus 8.7% found not guilty in Children's Courts (after being held on remand)
• The average period held whilst on remand after bail was denied was close to 6 months.
  
  Questions remain as to why the Bail Act has been changed after such damaging evidence. Politics and keeping the tabloid media happy rather than an effective well balanced criminal justice system appear to be the driving force in law making.