Tough Bail Laws Cause Rise in Imprisonment Rates
New statistics reveal that the adult prison population in NSW grew by a staggering 9% between April 2015 and March 2016, and is now sitting at a record high of 12,390 inmates. While overall crime rates in NSW have fallen,...
Pair Refused Bail on Charges of Financing Terrorism
A 20-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl were recently arrested in Guildford on charges of financing terrorism. Counter-terrorism police allege that the pair were involved in obtaining money to send overseas to assist ISIS. Police claim the 16-year-old schoolgirl has...
NSW Government’s Attack on Civil Liberties
The New South Wales Government has attracted widespread criticism from civil liberties groups, after passing new ‘anti-protest’ legislation in parliament this week. The new laws, passed on Tuesday, will see increased penalties for protesters at mining and coal-seam gas sites,...
New Rules for Supreme Court Bail Applications
The rules applying to bail have been in a constant state of flux since 2013, when new bail laws were introduced to replace the old Bail Act of 1978. While the old Act was complex, confusing and in some respects...
Man Released Due to Lack of Prison Resources
In the latest example of the effects of prison overcrowding, a District Court judge has been forced to release an alleged drug supplier on bail due to a lack of resources in prisons and remand centres. The unnamed man appeared...
Bail Laws to Get Tougher for Suspected Terrorists
Regular readers of our blog will know that the NSW government has been changing the law on bail more frequently than most of us can keep up with. And now, the Baird government has announced that more changes are on...
Showing Cause under the New Bail Act
The Bail Act 2013 commenced in May 2014, replacing the old Bail Act 1978 which had been amended over 80 times and was widely criticised as unfair and unworkable. If you’ve been following our blogs, you’ll be aware of the...
Moving Backwards with Bail – Is Making Bail Harder a Good or Bad Thing?
The long-awaited overhaul of the outdated Bail Act 1978 has encountered many bumps in the road towards reform. Since it came into effect on 20 May 2014, the new Bail Act 2013 has sparked fierce debate from all ends of...
In trouble with the law over the holidays? Getting bail over the silly season
The courts are generally closed over the holiday season. So what happens if you or a loved-one is accused of a serious crime and police refuse to let you out of custody? Will you have to wait until the holidays...
Is the Tightening of Bail Laws in NSW making the Magistrate’s Role Redundant?
The flipping and flopping of politicians when it comes to bail laws is enough to make you mad. Just keeping abreast of the likely changes in order to decide whether and, if so, when to make a bail application (now...
