National Symposium on Pretrial Services 1978 - Legal Issues in Bail

• NCJ Number: 81924
• Author(s): C Foote
• Date Published: Unknown
• Length: 0 pages
• Grant Number(s): 76-ED-99-0031
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Justice
• Publication Format: Film
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. Videotape, running time 37 minutes, color, 1 inch tape. Symposium held in San Diego, California on April 3-5, 1978. See NCJ-81922-81937 for videotapes and NCJ-52200 for published proceedings.

Annotation

Constitutional issues concerning pretrial detention are discussed, with attention to pretrial rights under the 5th, 8th, and 14th amendments; the administration of the criminal law; and the history of bail in the United States.

Abstract

Whether a constitutional right to bail is implied in the excessive bail clause of the 8th amendment is debatable. Similarly, due process rights may or may not be inherent in the 5th and 14th amendments. Other debatable issues are the scope of the right to bail, the criteria by which this right should be judged, and the reasons why some defendants are released and others are detained. Predictions of likelihood of flight or danger to the community cannot be made accurately. A rational relationship should exist between criteria used for determining whether individuals should be detained and the outcome sought (i.e., they will appear for trial). Cases which have some bearing on this issue are Griffin v. Illinois, Carlson v. Landon, and Stack v. Boyle. Most State constitutions in Colonial America and the 1800's had an excessive bail clause and a right to pretrial release in noncapital cases. Questions and answers conclude the session. The speaker is a law professor.