Court in the Act: Procedural Progression in the Law of Arrest, Detention and Failure to Answer to Bail

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the latest developments in criminal procedure and practice pertaining to pre-trial defendants. It critically reviews the position regarding: failure to answer to bail, breach of pre-charge bail conditions and the considerations of granting bail with the liability to be rearrested following a breach of bail conditions (s. 72 of the Policing and Crime Act (PCA) 2017). In the eight years of Conservative government, criminal justice reform programmes have been seen as executing the extensive erosion of civil liberties. This article examines the enthusiastic enterprise set out in the PCA 2017 to deliver reform of the law on bail—and the consequences of failure to answer to bail following this reform. The first section of the article consists of a brief review of the early commitment to realign the State power with Britain’s past underlying traditions of democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law, arguably, accentuated with the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. This is followed by a discussion of the interaction between police officers and suspects, namely: (a) pre-arrest, and on arrest, (b) caution and legal rights and (c) detention. This section will discuss recent coarsening of that commitment regarding powers of arrest, detention, entry, bail and failure to answer to bail, for pre-trial defendants. The article then turns to outline and evaluate the juxtaposition of the Law Commission’s Consultation Paper on Search Warrants. An analysis will then be made of the impact of s. 72 of the PCA 2017, before concluding with a critical evaluation of whether this change is a contemporary rapine of breach of bail, or a comparative necessity.