Released Under Investigation: High Time to Bail Out

Published date01 August 2023
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1177/00220183221078935
AuthorMichael Hal Sosabowski,Ed Johnston
Date01 August 2023
Released Under Investigation:
High Time to Bail Out
Michael Hal Sosabowski
University of Brighton, UK
Ed Johnston
UWE, Bristol, UK
Abstract
Prior to the Policing and Crime Act 2017, the provision of bail was set out by the Bail Act and
ref‌ined by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE). Bail provisions changed under
the Policing and Crime Act 2017, which created a presumption against bail. The legislation permit-
ted police to release suspects under investigation (RUI) which was permitted to last as long as the
police required. This article contends that neither the police, suspects or victims of crime have
benef‌itted from the changes and a new balance needs to be struck in order to achieve fair and
just outcomes, in keeping with the doctrines outlined in Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts
Bill 2021.
Keywords
RUI, ECHR, bail, suspectsrights, presumption of innocence
Introduction
Bail is a set of restrictions on the rights of a suspectprior to a court hearing or a return to a police station. Bail is
necessary to balance the needs and rights of the state to ensure a defendant or suspect attends a court or a police
station, and, in the interim, does not commit any further offences, or acts which may alter the natural course of
justice; with the needs and rights of a suspect not to be punished without it having been established that they
have broken the law (nulla poena sine lege) and a lawful sentence imposed.
There are three types of bail (Crown Prosecution Service, 2019):
1
Police bail: the subject is released without being charged but must return to the police station at a
stated time;
Corresponding author:
Ed Johnston, Senior Lecturer in Law, Programme Leader Criminology and Law Faculty of Business and Law, UWE, Bristol, UK.
E-mail: edward2.johnston@uwe.ac.uk
1. Crown Prosecution Service (2019) Bail[Online] accessed 16 April 2020.
Article
The Journal of Criminal Law
2023, Vol. 87(4) 266280
© The Author(s) 2022
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/00220183221078935
journals.sagepub.com/home/clj

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