Remand decisions
A significant part of our prison capacity crisis is the growing remand population. The September 2023 remand population figure of 16,196 is 12% higher than in September 2022 and is the highest September figure in at least the last fifty years. The untried prison population rose by 8% (to 10,521) when compared to the end of September 2022 whilst the convicted unsentenced population rose by 18% (to 5,675) over the same period. We know (from a recent Justice Committee report) that there is little support for remand prisoners either in prison or on release.
Now new research from the charity JUSTICE suggests one key reason for this increase is that magistrates aren’t following proper procedures, leading to people being unfairly remanded in custody.
The research
Headline findings
First, processes for determining bail do not appear to be properly followed in the magistrates’ courts, undermining the fairness of remand decision-making and increasing the likelihood of custodial remand being imposed unnecessarily. The findings also call into question the quality of remand decision-making.
Decision makers rarely provided reasons for their decisions, despite the requirements in the Bail Act and Criminal Procedure Rules that they do so. This failure makes it difficult to scrutinise remand decisions to determine why and to what extent custodial remand is being overused.
Disparities in outcomes, particularly for non-White defendants, foreign national defendants, defendants appearing via video-link and in a secure dock, and defendants lacking representation, were also found.
Researchers conclude that these disparities suggest biased decision-making driven by perceptions of risk, likely exacerbated by a lack of diversity amongst decision makers.
The Bail Act
Conclusions
The researchers say that their study represents a step towards identifying and addressing concerning trends in remand decision-making, but say that further work is required in order to uncover both the extent of the issues identified and, critically, the most effective solutions.
The researchers call for the Government to uncover the reasons why custodial remand is so often ordered when conditional bail might be appropriate.
They also recommend that the Government revisit the efficiency of the magistracy compared to district judges in remand decision-making.
The study makes an urgent call for the Government to measure how racial bias and appearing via video link impact remand decision-making, and to commission further research regarding the practice of remanding individuals in custody for their own protection.
Their final point is an appeal for the Government, which collects some of these data to undertake a more comprehensive collection of data and make it publicly available.
Thanks to Andy Aitchison for kind permission to use the header image in this post. You can see Andy’s work here.
