NSW poised to revamp bail laws

Waleed Aly | ABC RN Drive | 7 February 2012

Listen to interview here 

The bail laws in NSW are the toughest in the country. The state's bail act has been amended no less than 32 times since it was introduced in 1978 and as it stands now, there is effectively a presumption against bail for many offences.

Now the State Coalition Government is seriously looking at softening these laws. An issue that has been of particular concern for some time is growing numbers of young people who are being denied bail and held in jail, only to stand trial and find out they have no sentence to serve.

The man charged with weighing up possible amendments to the Bail Act is the NSW Attorney General Greg Smith and he spoke with Waleed Aly.

Juvenile detention centre laws challenged

Geoff Chambers | The Daily Telegraph | August 18, 2011 

PROPOSED bail law changes which would keep kids out of packed juvenile detention centres are being challenged by the state's top prosecutor.

In a submission to the Law Reform Commission, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions disputed the need to repeal a section of the Bail Act, blamed for keeping too many youths behind bars.

Of the 17 submissions lodged with the commission as part of the Bail Act review, the ODPP was the highest-profile agency to resist a major overhaul.

Section 22A effectively limits people to one bail application. "No (it should not be repealed). Sensibly (section 22A) provides a court has power to decline to hear an application where it has heard and considered a previous application in the same case by the same accused unless there are new grounds," the submission said.

"The provision does not specify what 'grounds' means - leaving the accused with widest possible options should a change of circumstances occur." The DPP does not back a separate Bail Act provision for juveniles but has previously supported Bail Hostel services.

In its submission, Corrective Services argued for the bail changes on the basis it was struggling to manage an "increasing [adult] inmate population". "The diverse and difficult to manage mix of offenders is complicated by an increase in the number of inmates who are on remand," the department said.

The number of adult prisoners on remand has jumped 254 per cent since 1994 - coupled with a 55 per cent spike in the number of full-time inmates. The average cost of remanding inmates at the Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre is $163.50 a day - higher than the daily cost for prisoners in mainstream jail. As at June, there were 405 juvenile offenders on remand.

"Corrective Services supports a number of previous submissions made to the 2010 consultation paper that children and young people should be considered separately to adults when bail is granted or refused," the department said.

Greens MP David Shoebridge said DPP Lloyd Babb had gone "out on a limb" by blocking changes to the Act. "In the few short years since 22A was put on the statute books the numbers on remand have ballooned, costing millions without a shred of evidence it has reduced crime," Mr Shoebridge said.

Mr Babb's position appears to be a rebuff to Attorney-General Greg Smith, who has campaigned for changes to the Bail Act to ease the stress on the juvenile justice system.

Retired supreme court judge Hal Sperling, who is leading the review, will report back by November.

John Hatzistergos and the Bail Act

In the week the NSW Law Reform Commission received submissions on the review of the Bail Act, and begins its' work on the preparation of Hal Sperling QC's much anticipated report to Government, it is worth reflecting on the state our remand population is in, and how it got there.

Many of you will remember fondly the former Attorney-General, John Hatzistergos, who had this to say to Parliament in 2007:

“The Government is pleased to introduce the Bail Amendment Bill 2007. The bill builds on the Government’s extensive reforms over the past years to strengthen our bail laws and ensure the community is properly protected while defendants are awaiting trial. New South Wales now has the toughest bail laws in Australia. Over the last few years we have cracked down on repeat offenders – people who habitually come before our courts time and again. Part of those changes includes removing the presumption in favour of bail for a large number of crimes. We have also introduced presumptions against bail for crimes including drug importation, firearm offences, repeat property offences and riots, and an even more demanding exceptional circumstances test for murder and serious personal violence, including sexual assault. 

Those type of offenders now have a much tougher time being granted bail under our rigorous system. These extensive changes have delivered results. There is no doubt that the inmate population, particularly those on remand, has risen considerably as a result of the changes. In fact, the number of remand prisoners has increased by 20 per cent in the last three years alone and new jails are being opened to accommodate the increase.”

Bless him. He was actually proud of himself. What he failed to mention was the huge increase in the juvenile remand population under his watch, and how very few of these young people actually went on to serve a control order (sentence of detention).

If you want to read someone break this and every other bail-related topic down, then head to the excellent submission by former Magistrate, Max Taylor, for the NSW Council of Civil Liberties here.

An excerpt from his work:

The shameful way this society treats unconvicted juveniles is set out at 0.7. When half the 12 to 17 year olds in gaol are on remand and the reality is that 80% of such young people will not receive a control order within 12 months, then something has gone radically wrong with the bail system. In should be added that juvenile admissions to remand have increased from 3203 in 2005-2006 to 4439 in 2009-2010. In 2005-2006 only 392 went from remand to control. Out of a total of 5073 admissions to Juvenile Justice Centres in 2009-2010 only 472 went from remand to control.

Premier acts on promise to review juvenile detention

Anna Patty | SMH | 10 June 2011

CONTROVERSIAL bail laws will be reviewed in response to an rise in the number of children in detention without any reduction in crime rates.

The Premier, Barry O'Farrell, yesterday appointed a retired Supreme Court judge, Hal Sperling, QC, to lead a comprehensive ''root-and-branch'' review of the Bail Act and to report in November. Mr Sperling will be backed up by the NSW Law Reform Commission.

Mr O'Farrell said he was concerned that juveniles charged with petty offences were being forced to mix with hardened criminals.

''This is particularly disturbing,'' he said, ''when many of the young offenders are eventually released by the courts without any custodial sentence.''

The review fulfils a Coalition election promise and responds to mounting evidence that amendments to the Bail Act in late 2007 fuelled a sharp increase in juvenile detention.

The NSW Attorney-General, Greg Smith, said the number of minors admitted to remand had risen from 3623 in 2006 to 5082 in 2008.

He said many young people were denied bail because they did not have a home and often spent up to six weeks in custody without serving a custodial sentence. He said he would ''encourage more accommodation for young people''.