NobileRosaleaHutchinsonTerry, “The Door Creaked Shut”: The New Breach of Bail Offence for Youth in Queensland' (2015) 40(2) Alternative Law Journal97; TownsleyLesley, ‘Returning to Presumptions and the Erosion of Fundamental Rights: The Bail Amendment Act2014 (NSW)’ (2015) 40(1) Alternative Law Journal42.
9.
See the comments of the NSW Law Reform Commission, Bail Report No 133 (2012) [3.39] (‘Bail Report’).
10.
Bail Act1977 (Vic) s 4(1): Any person accused of an offence and being held in custody in relation to that offence shall be granted bail.
11.
Under s 5 of the Bail Act1977, an array of bail conditions may be imposed by courts; the application of one or more of them must be linked to the bail applicant and their risk of failing to attend court, offending etc. and must be reasonable and not unduly onerous. The application of these conditions necessarily involves an exercise in risk assessment and mitigation and routinely includes restrictions such as requiring the person to reside at a specified location, to surrender their passport, not contact an alleged victim or witness etc.
12.
Victorian Law Reform Commission, Review of the Bail Act1977. Final Report No 13 (2007); Robinson v The Queen [2015] VSCA 161 at [47] per MaxwellPRedlichJA.
13.
See the comments of PriestJA in Robinson v The Queen [2015] VSCA 161 at [64].
14.
In DPP v Harika [2001] VSC 237. GillandJ held that applications for bail where the applicant must show cause necessarily involved two stages (demonstration of show cause by the applicant and then consideration of unacceptable risk) with the onus of proof varying with each stage.
15.
In Re Asmar [2005] VSC 487 MaxwellP held that the overlap of relevant factors meant that unacceptable risk and show cause should be considered in a single step.
Serious Sex Offenders (Detention and Supervision) Act2009 (Vic) s 15(4).
19.
See BrownDavid, ‘Looking Behind the Increase in Custodial Remand Populations’ (2013) 2(2) International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy80.
20.
For instance, in United States v Salerno (1987) 481 US 739, a majority of the Supreme Court of the United States found that denying accused bail on the basis of their dangerousness was not unconstitutional and did not violate the presumption of innocence.
21.
In Victoria, for the 12-month period mid-2014 to mid-2015, there were 12310 breaches of bail orders: Crime Statistics Agency, ‘Alleged Offender Incidents’Crime Statistics, Year Ending 30 June 2015 [4.2]: <http://www.crimestatistics.vic.gov.au/home/crime+statistics/year+ending+30+june+2015/alleged+offender+incidents>. Note that a breach of a conduct condition that was imposed when bail was granted is itself an offence under s 30A of the Bail Act1977.
22.
See Serious Sex Offenders (Detention and Supervision) Act2009(Vic) Part 8.
23.
Another recent example can be found in the restrictive changes to bail law introduced by the government of New South Wales following the taking of hostages at the Lindt Café in Sydney by ManisHaron while he was on bail: BarnsGreg, ‘Stricter Bail Laws Would Be An Assault on Our Rights’: The Drum, 17 December 2014.
24.
See Victorian Law Reform Commission, Sex Offenders Registration. Final Report (2012).
25.
Brown, above n 19, 83.
26.
From 1998 to 2011, the remand rate of unsentenced prisoners per 100 000 of the population increased in Victoria from 12.9 to 19.6: Bail Report, above n 9. By 2014, remand prisoners comprised 19 per cent of the Victorian adult prison population: Australian Bureau of Statistics, 4517.0 Prisoners in Australia, 2014: Victoria (17 April 2015) <http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0∼2014∼Main%20Features∼Victoria∼10016>.
