Detention Before Trial

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.

Pre-trial detention refers to the period when a person, after being arrested, is detained so as to determine the nature of the offences and the characterization of the charges. This notion is part and parcel of the legal proceedings of a criminal investigation and aims at striking a fragile balance between protecting the State and respecting individual freedoms. Lots of examples can be quoted to illustrate the various pre-trial detention modalities in common law and civil law traditions, including the duration of custody; custody rights; right to silence; right to the presence of a lawyer; modalities and control of pre-trial detention; and procedures in case of wrongful detention. This book makes an important contribution to the newly-researched topic of pre-trial detention from a theoretical and empirical point of view. Papers alternatively consider various issues: they analyse the philosophical principles and policies underlying pre-trial detention and look at the different forms it takes according to several countries; on a more technical and pragmatic level, they raise the question of the use of an appropriate terminology and the problem of translation that may arise from the differences between the studied legal systems. Finally, they consider the checks and balances mechanisms put in place to limit the negative effects of the measures restricting liberty. This volume contains a selection of contributions by academics specialized in law and comparative criminal procedure, political science, history, sociology, linguistics, and legal translation, and offers a comparative analysis of countries with differing legal traditions.

Arbitrary arrest and detention have been the most consistent violations of fundamental individual human rights throughout history. The world's major criminal justice systems reveal the historical struggle between monarchs and dictators on the one hand, and advocates of the supremacy of the rule of law on the other. This struggle has been over the power to arbitrarily arrest and detain persons whether they be accused of common or polical crimes. Preventive Detention: A Comparative and International Law Perspective seeks to reconcile theory and practice by selecting studies representing different legal systems, thus advancing the multi-disciplinary understanding of the application of international and regional human rights norms in criminal justice systems.

It is estimated that in the course of a year, approximately 10 million people will pass through pre-trial detention. Although presently, no adequately functioning criminal justice system can do entirely without detaining any suspects, pre-trial detention thus remains problematic in the context of human rights, the detainee's family, and society. This volume therefore offers a wide variety of topics that are relevant to pre-trial detention. The themes discussed include: developments that affect the application of pre-trial detention; relevant international and national human rights standards, as well as monitoring systems; pre-trial detention of specific groups; and alternatives to pre-trial detention. Moreover, this book contains chapters on 21 individual countries from around the world. On the basis of these, the book not only examines whether and how international human rights standards on detention are influencing national law and practice, and the extent to which international norm

Examines the causes for mass incarceration of Americans and calls for the reform of the bail system. Traces the history of bail, how it has come to be an oppressive tool of the courts, and makes recommendations for reforming the bail system and alleviating the mass incarceration problem.