Bail Applications.

Bail is an undertaking (promise to the court) that you will turn up and face the charges against you. It can sometimes come with extra conditions like curfews or regular reporting to police, or be backed by another person offering to give up money of you don't show up.

Our experienced bail lawyers can represent you when making applications for court bail and variation requests to your bail conditions.

BAIL OR CUSTODY:

If bail is refused, you will be remanded in custody. If bail is granted, you will be released until your next court date.

If you have been arrested and charged with an offence, Police have the option to grant bail (called watch house bail) or to hold you in custody until you can make an application for bail to a Magistrate.

If bail is refused by the Magistrate, you will be remanded in custody until your matter is dealt with by the court. You may apply for fresh bail in the Supreme Court by highlighting any changes in your circumstances that might support your release on bail.

If bail is granted (whether by Police, a Magistrate or the Supreme Court), you will be released until your next court date where your bail will be enlarged to the the next court date, and so forth until your matter is complete. If you are represented by a lawyer, you may not have to attend court, but you should clear this with your lawyer first.

GRANTING COURT BAIL:

A 'show cause' position is where you have to tell the magistrate why you should be released on bail.

Bail will usually be granted with or without conditions unless the prosecution can show there is an unacceptable risk of you reoffending or failing to turn up to court. The Magistrate or Judge will consider things such as:

the seriousness of the charge and the evidence against you
your criminal history, particularly if there is the same type of offending on your record
whether you have failed to appear or breached bail conditions in the past
whether they think there is a rick you will offend again, or are danger to other people
whether you have a job and a stable place to live

Another barrier to being granted bails is whether you are in a "show cause" position where you will have to demonstrate to the Magistrate or Judge why you should be released. Some "show cause" criteria include:

you've been charged with a serious offence while already on bail,
you've been charged with an offence against the Bail Act (such as failing to appear)
you used or threatened to use a weapon when offending
you have been charged with threatening police who were investigating a crime organisation
you were charged with certain serious DV offences.

BAIL CONDITIONS:

Your bail may include conditions to make sure you turn up to court.

If you are granted bail, there may be certain conditions applied to make sure you will turn up to court, not commit further offences, not interfere with witnesses or endanger the safety of others.

Some common conditions include:

being banned from approaching certain places or people
reporting to a police station at certain times, on certain days
not leave your home during certain times
wear a GPS monitoring device

VARYING BAIL CONDITIONS:

You may be able to adjust some bail conditions with permission from Police.

You can change your bail conditions in several ways depending on the bail conditions. The bail undertaking may describe how a variation can be made, either to police or prosecution, or to a court.

In most cases, reporting conditions can be varied or adjusted with permission from the Office in Charge of the station where you must report.

If Police or Prosecutions refuse to vary your conditions, or if it is specified the conditions can only be varied by a Court, you will have to make a special application.