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Bail

In 81 percent of cases where the primary charge is for a violent offence remand on bail is granted. Yet this is the case for only some 31 percent of traffic offenders and 64.2 percent of property offenders. And the percentage of those charged with a violent offence that are bailed has actually risen, from 78.7 percent in 1994 to 81.4 percent in 2003, the last year for which figures are available. We have no reason to believe there has been a sharp drop in the interim.

Unsurprisingly given this remarkably counter-intutive approach taken in the granting of bail, the rate of offending on bail is high, varying between 16.5 and 22.2 percent over the period studied.

All this data is available in a report "Trends in the use of bail and offending while on bail 1994 to 2003" by Barb Lash of the Ministry of Justice. Unfortunately it is not yet available online, however an earlier verion Trends in the use of bail and offending while on bail 1990-1999 is available.

The problem with bail, particularly where violent offenders are involved, is that once someone is already facing charges for one offence they may well have very little to lose by committing further offences, especially given the widespread use of concurrent rather than cumulative sentences in our Justice system. Offenders that are highly likely to be convicted have little incentive not to offend further under such circumstances.

The result is inevitable; offenders that are bailed despite police objections reoffend. Examples include the teenager who murdered North Shore pensioner Doreen Reid, John Clarke who abducted and raped a 15 year old girl in 1997 while on bail for the rape of a 24 year old woman, Paul Bailey who raped and murdered 15 year old Kylie Smith while on bail for attempted rape in 1991, and Philip Curriewho raped and assaulted an autistic intellectually handicapped woman in Palmerston North in March 2005 while on bail for offences including assaulting a female

But wait.... there's more.... Natalie Fenton murdered a South Auckland man in the course of a home invasion on April 1, 1999.while on bail for armed robbery. More recently, Sean Harding stabbed a Marewa, Napier woman in her home in October 2004 in front of her children while on bail for other offences, and Stephen King (NOT the famous author!) murdered his partner with an axe in January 2004, ....and yes, he was on bail, despite his 150 previous convictions!

Five percent of offenders on bail for violent offending commit further violent offences while on bail. While this may seem low, consider that the time periods concerned are often quite short, weeks or even days in some cases. Given this fact, it would seem circumspect to remand those facing violent or sexual offending charges in custody, where their opportunity for further offending is far more limited, and will not involve members of the public. This is especially the case for offenders for previous convictions for violent offending, and those where the Police oppose bail - almost inevitably with extremely good reason too.

The Trust would like to see bail restricted to offenders with no previous history of violent and/or sexual offending and who are not facing charges for violence or sexual offending. This will mean greater numbers remanded in custody, but the payoff will be a reduction in serious offending whilst on bail, with the savings that implies in the long run.