NCJ Number
196207
Journal
Howard Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 41 Issue: 3 Dated: July 2002 Pages: 245-262
Date Published
July 2002
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study examined the effect of community ties information on magistrates’ bail decisions on hypothetical cases.
Abstract
In the English criminal justice system, whenever a case is adjourned for trial, sentence, or appeal, magistrates can bail a defendant unconditionally, with conditions such as curfew, or remand a defendant to custody until the next hearing of the case. Magistrates’ bail decisions are governed by legislation stipulating that bail should be granted, except in certain circumstances, such as failure to surrender to previous bail, or substantial grounds for believing the defendant would abscond. The opportunity to make just and defensible decisions is hampered by the lack of relevant information. In order to overcome the lack of community ties information provided to courts, courts use Bail Information Schemes (BISs), which allow probation officers to collect, verify, and provide largely positive information about a defendant’s community ties to the prosecution and defense, who then relay it to the court. Past evaluations of BISs have concluded that magistrates were more likely to bail defendants when provided with bail information. These evaluations are methodologically limited and their findings are incompatible with other research on magistrates’ bail decision making. Court managers in 70 randomly selected adult magistrates’ courts in England and Wales were mailed hypothetical cases in which characteristics were disentangled. Magistrates were randomly assigned to either a BIS or no-BIS group. Results show that there was no significant difference between the BIS and no-BIS groups in the likelihood of making a punitive decision on the cases. The difference in the likelihood of remanding in custody between the two groups was only marginally significant. The findings of this study are consistent with other research on magistrates’ bail decision making. There is need for more research into whether the decisions based on BISs are the right ones. This study demonstrates that BISs are merely providing magistrates with a false sense of confidence. 4 tables, 4 notes, 42 references