NCJ Number
99588
Date Published
1982
Length
33 pages
Annotation
Jeffrey Harris presents U.S. Department of Justice recommendations for improving Federal bail laws and assesses the adequacy of three bills in implementing these recommendations.
Abstract
Recommendations for improving bail reform focus on permitting suggested dangerousness as a consideration in pretrial release determinations requiring the court to impose a condition that the defendant not commit another crime while on release and that violation of this condition will result in the revocation of release. An additional recommendation is adopting a provision that permits temporary detention for up to 10 days of a defendant already on a form of conditional release who has committed a further crime. In addition, courts should be allowed to deny release to defendants posing a high risk of subsequent nonappearance without having to impose a high money bond, and the standard for postconviction release should be ammended so that release on bail is not presumed for convicted persons awaiting execution of a sentence or an appeal. Further recommendations center on giving the Government authority to appeal release decisions, making penalities for bail jumping proportional to those for the original offense charged, and evaluating source of bond funds to determine if the bond will reasonably assure the defendants's trial appearance. Of the three bills currently before the House (H.R. 4362, H.R. 4264, H.R. 3006), H.R. 4362 presents the best vehicle for accomplishing the recommended bail reforms and should be amended to require that (1) pretrial detention decisions be supported by clear and convincing evidence and (2) that a probable cause standard be sufficient for denying pretrial release. Included are 22 footnotes.