Hi, I've recently received an essay question about the Bail Act 2013 and i'm having a little trouble with starting off, any help would be appreciated Thanks!
The Bail Act 2013 (NSW) has been the subject of much debate and significant law reform since it came into force in January 2014.
To what extent have changes to the Bail Act balanced the rights of Victims, offenders and society?
Hey,
Just in case you're having trouble finding evidence, i'll throw some of my own here
In 2014, Steve Fesus was granted bail despite being charged for murder. Anti-violence campaigner Ken Marslew stated that this was a "slap in the face" to murder victims and their families. Clearly, the rights of victims and society are not being upheld here.
In 2014, Mahmoud Hawi was granted bail despite accusations of a public murder in an airport. The mother of the victim stated "I feel sick and I feel scared". Again, you can see that since the bail laws came into effect in 2014, the rights of victims and society have definitely been prohibited.
Another high-profile case is the Lindt Cafe Siege 2015; The gunman, Man Haron Monis, commit the attack while he himself was on bail. He was charged for 43 counts of sexual assault AND was believed to be an accessory to the murder of his ex-wife. You can clearly see here that the bail act is too lenient for offenders of an indictable offence, and pose a detriment to the rights of society.
This is the evidence that I myself used in my response to a crime question. It was a question that tackled the entire syllabus, but I focused on bail as a key source of conflict. When I had my feedback, my teacher made a comment that there aren't THAT many cases listed above, so you could definitely argue that bail upholds the rights of the offender to some extent. Bail allows for their right to 'innocent until proven guilty' to be upheld, so being held in remand takes this right away.
Anyway, I hope this helps you