Alethea Dice
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- Feb 18, 2012
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I thought that bail hearings address the seriousness of the charges and the risk of the suspect evading those charges as well as being a risk to the public .....or a certain person. I have experienced this from a victim point of view (and I hate word victim because I survived) and his lawyer never asked for bail because they knew that everyday served counts for 2 at sentencing....victim services and detectives told me that it is in the best interest for some to stay in jail in terms of their future court hearings and sentencing...
Bail hearings do address those concerns. But 2 for 1 sentencing ended in Canada in 2010, for exactly the reason you have stated and to reduce the numbers of inmates in remand custody. Now the sentencing is 1 for 1, unless circumstances justify more. Then it is limited to 1.5 for 1. There are more people in custody awaiting trials than there are serving sentences. This new law will hopefully change that and will also result in more accurate sentencing. Everyone is entitled to bail (except for more serious crimes like murder) unless the prosecution can show cause why they should not be released.
Bill C-25 caps the amount of credit that can be granted for time served in custody prior to sentencing (remand custody) at a ratio of 1 to 1. For example, if an offender who served 9 months in remand custody is sentenced to 4 years imprisonment, the net sentence will be 3 years and 3 months (4 years minus 9 months). Only where circumstances justify it can credit for time served be given at a ratio of up to 1.5 to 1, and the courts will now be required to explain these circumstances.
http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/news-nouv/nr-cp/2010/doc_32485.html
A federal sentencing law that eliminated two-for-one credit for time offenders are held in pre-sentence custody survived a constitutional challenge Wednesday.
The Truth in Sentencing Act, considered a key plank in the federal Conservatives law-and-order agenda, came into effect last year.
The legislation set a one-to-one credit for time spent in jail before sentencing, up to a maximum of 1 ½ days credit if circumstances justify it.
http://www.therecord.com/news-story/2574989-tories-law-abolishing-2-for-1-sentencing-credit-ruled-constitutional/
HTH