The government wants to expand the category of criminal offences where bail would not be considered under normal circumstances, Attorney General Alfred Sears disclosed yesterday
He was elaborating on the amendments to the Bail Act that are being circulated among members of the Bahamas Bar Association, the business community and various non-governmental organizations.
“Here we would have to balance the constitutional guarantees in that process of expanding categories where the threshold consideration would be that much higher, so we can put a stop to the leakage of dangerous people who threaten the society,” he said while appearing as a guest on Love 97’s “Issues of the Day” with host Michael Pintard.
Police officials and other public figures and members of the public have expressed their worries that in many instances persons released on bail continue to commit violent crimes in a vicious cycle.
Another proposed amendment to the Bail Act would make Supreme Court justices legislatively bound to consider input from psychiatrists or social workers before making a determination on a bail application.
“When a judge entertains an application for bail, we want that judge, rather than just on the application made by lawyers, to have a probation report by a social worker or a report by a psychiatrist and all of the antecedents of the person so that the judge has the best opportunity to judge whether this person would constitute a threat to the society or the administration of justice,” he said.
The government has been foreshadowing amendments to the Bail Act for quite some time as worries fester about the level of crime in The Bahamas.
The Bahama Journal has reported that bail has been granted to more than 120 people charged with murder and more than 160 armed robbery suspects.
These accused were released over the last five years because the courts failed to try them in a reasonable time, the Journal discovered.
After being on remand between 18 months and two years, a suspect is usually released by the courts on bail.
The Commissioner of Police Paul Farquharson also pointed to concerns the police have about the criminal justice system, saying that the issue is a “big problem”.
“I believe [the judicial system] could be much more effective, but we all have to be on the same page-We look at persons who have been in the system and there are many of those who continue to be involved in a life of crime. Unfortunately, some of these persons are persons who we have caught over and again and they get smarter and smarter every day, but most of them – or quite a few of them – are on bail for several other offences,” he said.
Prime Minister Perry Christie addressed the point when he delivered the keynote address at the Progressive Liberal Party’s convention two weeks ago.
He assured that the amendments to the Bail Act would address the problem identified while preserving constitutional entitlements.
The government also intends to pass a new Witness Protection Act and new legislation to strengthen the organizational structure of the Royal Bahamas Police Force.
The prime minister classified crime and the problem of illegal immigration as issues that the country has to wrap its arms around and wrestle to the ground.
The President of the Bahamas Bar Association Wayne Munroe, a noted criminal defence attorney, has offered a different perspective on the matter of persons released on bail continuing to break the law.
He proffered the view that there could be a significant number of those suspects who are innocent.
“We have very little prosecutorial discretion here so people get charged with cases that the prosecution may well know will not end in a conviction so there is no real drive to bring the matter on for trial,” Mr. Munroe told The Bahama Journal.
“So I wouldn’t be surprised if the 35 out of the 70 murders in 2000 where the persons are on bail in half the cases the people shouldn’t have been charged in the first place. What the public must understand is that those 35 people, if they’re in fact innocent, would have been remanded for two years and we will not compensate them for that time or help them rebuild their lives. It need not take long for a case to be tried.”
Police released figures recently that show that in every major category so far this year, crime rates are up.
Police said they had solved 76 percent of the 41 murders that had been committed up to October 21.
The Bar Association estimates that between 50 to 52 percent of people charged with murder are acquitted.
There are 29 people now on death row at Her Majesty’s Prison.
By: Tameka Lundy, The Bahama Journal
