The federal government has passed a law which ends 2 for 1 credit for time served in jail prior to trial or plea. This law was given royal accent in late October of 2009. It seems to be another popular “law and order” move by our government.
There general agreement that there ought not to be more people waiting for trial in jail than are serving sentence in jail. The government is trying to ease the backlog by pushing people to go to trial faster or in actual practice to plead guilty faster.
Charters A Faster Trial
Pushing people to plead guilty means that people who are not guilty will plead guilty so they can get out of jail. This is because the sentences are shorter than the time it takes to get to trial. Quite often an accused person can get out of jail immediately if he pleads guilty but he will wait 6 months or more for a trial to prove he is innocent. That is too high a price for justice for most people. They plead guilty go home and continue working at the job they surely would have lost had they languished in jail waiting to have a speedy trial 6 months later.
Redeems Innocents From Prolonged Pre-trial Custody
Do not forget that everyone is supposed to be presumed innocent, until proven guilty. Let’s also remember that we have the right to a reasonable bail under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Far too many people are denied bail on the flimsiest of charges; allegations without any corroboration.
Frequently allegations are made to gain advantage in the family courts. It is much easier to navigate the family court system when your husband is jail and you have sole possession of the matrimonial home and all of the marital assets.
Less and less discretion is used in laying charges. In the past, the police quite often weighed the importance of the allegation or the likeliness of success in prosecution, and took the “victims” wishes into account. To a very large degree this is no longer the case. If an allegation is made, charges are laid.
Jail Conditions Gets Better With Fewer Inmates
If bail were more readily granted then the injustice of being wrongly accused would be limited. If bail were more readily granted then there would not be a need for 2 for 1 credit. There would be far fewer jailed people confronted with huge wait times for trial, because most of them would have bail, and the small numbers left without bail could be given an in custody prioritized date. With fewer people in jail waiting for trial the conditions would be much better. There would be fewer lockdowns, fewer times with insufficient ratios of staff to inmates, fewer people per cell etc.
Reduces Disparities Exist In Current Sentencing Regimes
Bail would also largely help solve the disparity of the sentencing regime that results form parole and early release being calculated after sentencing rather than from the date of the offence. If granted bail, there is little or no pretrial custody that needs to be accounted for in order to bring it in line with the parole or early release provisions.
Let’s live up to the obligations imposed by the Constitution. Give an accused person reasonable bail, and a trial within a reasonable time. If this obligation is met, then there will be no need to make pretrial custody longer or more difficult. Most important; justice will be served.
