Arrest And Bail In Canada

Detention before trial has been one of the most neglected areas in the whole administration of criminal justice. In the past, attention has been focussed almost exclusively on detention after trial (i.e. sentencing), which touches the lives of significantly fewer persons than detention before trial. There has been no previous examination in Canada of the utility or effectiveness of its operation. This study will fill an important need by documenting statistically the extent and nature of custody before trial in the Toronto Magistrates' Courts, where the overwhelming majority of citizens charged with criminal offences in the Toronto area are tried. Although the study is primarily directed at practices before trial in Toronto, many of these practices can be found in other cities throughout North America. Specific areas of importance which were investigated here include the use of the summons; the extent to which accused persons are detained in custody both before and after the first court appearance; bail-setting practices and the ability to raise bail; the activities of professional bondsmen; the enforcement of penalties for absconding; and the relationship between custody and the outcome of the trial. Much of the presentation of the data is descriptive, but attempts are made throughout the study to prove statistically the existence of casual relationships. The result is a work which brings together in lucid and scholarly form important evidence which will be valuable to lawyers and all who are professionally concerned with social problems, and of interest to everyone with a regard for the administration of justice.

When people are arrested and taken into custody, they become involved in a process to determine whether they will go home or stay in jail until the criminal charges can be brought to trial. Depending on the charges, this can take months -- and sometimes years. In the meantime, the accused will either remain in a custodial institution (with few amenities), or be released into the community (sometimes with strict conditions). The fate of the accused during this critical period of time is governed by the law of bail. Bail engages a dramatic conflict between individual freedom and society's right to protect itself. While the conflict is straightforward and easy to understand, the same is not true of Canadian bail law. In this book, Justice Gary T Trotter, a former prosecutor and law professor, provides a straightforward account of this bewilderingly complex area of the law. In a highly readable style, Trotter draws a straight line through this legal morass, making it accessible to the legal profession and beyond.