Bail as a Preventive Measure: Some Problems and Ways to Improve Effectiveness

The bail serves to reduce the likelihood of the situation when the suspect or the accused flees from inquiry, preliminary investigation or trial, continues the criminal activity; threatens a witness and (or) other participants in criminal proceedings, destroys evidence, or otherwise obstructs a criminal case proceedings. Drawing on the structure of crimes committed in Russia, with more than half being property crimes such as theft and fraud, choosing bail as a preventive measure, if possible, seems to be a logical and apparently popular measure due to several circumstances. Most of the mercenary crimes are motivated by the illegal acquisition of property or money. Consequently, bail as a restraint measure affects the lucrative motivation of the suspect or the accused and is often adequate to the damage caused. A significant problem of social justice restoration in most criminal cases is the compensation for damage or harm, which in most cases is measured in monetary and property terms. In this case, the bail could become a real mechanism for compensation for such harm, because money or property in the case of bail is already available at the time of the trial and could be used to compensate for the harm caused. However, in reality, such compensation is not used. The conversion of bail to state revenue in case of violation by the accused or suspect of obligations related to the bail does not contribute to the solution of this problem.

Keywords

Authors

References