The question of bail

Dec 12, 2019 Editorial

The Minister of Public Security is usually good for a spirited media moment, and especially when he is in a tempered frame of mind. Recently, the Minister offered the sobering thought when he shared with Kaieteur News (December 9): “I would like to leave this to the discretion of the magistrates…At this stage, I would want the magistrates and the judiciary to be a bit more stringent…They should not be bailed, or be placed on substantial bail.”
In this instance, the “they” to whom the Minister was speaking are those “repeat offenders accused of serious crimes” who, for some inexplicable reason, are granted bail.
This paper uses the word ‘inexplicable,’ because whatever the underlying rationales and without second guessing for one moment the discretionary and judgment capabilities of the magistracy, granting bail to some allegedly repeat felons defies commonsense.
In a society plagued with spiraling crimes, serious and violent and mostly gun crimes, the mere contemplation of bail for those who stand accused of such violence–and particularly those involving firearm–is a betrayal of sober judgment.
The Minister did signal very tactfully that he prefers that decisions about bail-whether higher or however–continue to reside where it rightfully belongs, which is with the people chosen to watch over the interests of justice.
It is the members of the judiciary, who must balance these interests and pursuits within the contexts of the overall objectives of protecting society and making it safe, both in feeling and in fact. It can be the most rigorous of tests, while being an intricately balanced one at the same time.
The questions at hand before the judiciary distil to these: when to grant bail? When not to? And, here is the key: when do circumstances permit (with related tests and standards that make sense) and when they do not?
The latter is worth repeating, if only for the emphasis placed on the table: when does it make no sense to grant bail, given the circumstances of the alleged crime and the confirmed official record of the accused?
To bring some texture and sinew to the fabric of the bail issue, a set of circumstances is presented, and is purposely intended to not be dissimilar to the Minister’s thinking, and which forms part of the position of this publication.
An accused is before the courts, with the following fact pattern tendered: 1) a violent crime is alleged; 2) serious bodily harm was inflicted on a person or several persons; 3) a firearm was used during the commission of the alleged crime; 4) there were others-also armed-in the alleged crime, who have eluded the arm of the law; 5) the accused before the court is a repeat offender for prior violent crimes; and 6) the same repeat offender was out on bail.
Clearly, such an accused should not be granted any bail, not even a very higher one, since that may not prove to be of any deterrent value. The Fates should not be tempted so daringly while, at the same time, society ought not to be subject to such endangering exposure.
Though it is a different time in which we live, and a different world that is inhabited, the greatest of care has to be taken to ensure that the safety requirements of society come first, if not always. In some instances, too many for the comfort of ordinary Guyanese existing in a state of siege, the book has to be thrown, and the law laid down to the maximum extent possible.
Along these lines, even the combination of no bail and way harsher sentences may not suffice to fit the bill. This is posited because violent crime is at a high (very) watermark and, correspondingly, the confidence and associated quality of life of law-abiding Guyanese are at the lowest of low ebbs.
The right messages are not being sent on a consistent basis, but they must be, and a start had better be made sooner rather than later.
No agency, with the independence of the judiciary duly respected, should arrogate onto itself the authority to dictate to the judiciary how it must go about its obligations to law and citizen. But, obviously, better judgment is needed.

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