Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Steve Cullen: Criminal lawyer on convictions for crimes by people on bail rise

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Steve Cullen: Criminal lawyer on convictions for crimes by people on bail rise · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

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  Speaker 1: We've got new numbers out this morning on crime while
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  Speaker 1: on bail. Ministry of Justice figures show convictions jumped by
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  Speaker 1: nearly twelve thousand between twenty fifteen and twenty twenty four.
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  Speaker 1: Homicides doubled from ten to twenty five over that time,
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  Speaker 1: with court backlogs taking up much of the blame. Steve Cullen,
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  Speaker 1: criminal lawyer, with us this morning. Steve, good morning, Good morning.
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  Speaker 1: So what is this telling us?
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  Speaker 2: Well, the figures are a little bit confusing, to be honest,
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  Speaker 2: there's been a ten year period. There's no doubt that
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  Speaker 2: there are increases occurring in crimes, but then everything else
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  Speaker 2: is going up as well. You'd want to be a
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  Speaker 2: praised of the demographics of society. Are we getting an
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  Speaker 2: increase in the proportion of youth? Are we getting an
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  Speaker 2: increase in the proportion of young people before the courts?
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  Speaker 2: Are there more gang members? We know that there are
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  Speaker 2: more drug abusers. It's a concerning statistic, but in the
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  Speaker 2: absence of more information, it's hard to derive any really
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  Speaker 2: concrete decisions from it.
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  Speaker 1: It's a bit more context, doesn't it, Steve, What are
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  Speaker 1: you seeing?
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  Speaker 2: Well, certainly we're seeing that people are sometimes noncompliant with bail,
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  Speaker 2: and they certainly do go on to commit further offending.
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  Speaker 2: This release talks about fears that the offense is that
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  Speaker 2: people are on bail go and commit somehow pertain to
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  Speaker 2: existing victims. Well, I haven't seen any particular evidence of that.
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  Speaker 2: They do go on to commit more offenses, but that's
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  Speaker 2: just the nature of the beast. I'm afraid when they
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  Speaker 2: deal with criminal law. The period they're talking about spans,
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  Speaker 2: for example, the period when we had COVID, when we
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  Speaker 2: had ram raids. What we are seeing, I think, in
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  Speaker 2: my own view, is that there's been a bit of
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  Speaker 2: a decline in respect for law and order and institutions.
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  Speaker 2: But it seems to be worldwide. It's come through social media,
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  Speaker 2: and it seems to be almost reflected in some of
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  Speaker 2: the people's attitudes towards bail. Were there less of a
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  Speaker 2: mind to take it seriously, but let's not forget over
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  Speaker 2: eighty percent of people who are on electronically monitored bill
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  Speaker 2: for example, are comply.
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  Speaker 1: If you get bail once and then stuff you'll bail up,
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  Speaker 1: do you get bail again.
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  Speaker 2: It's not automatic. It needs a legitimate reason to explain
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  Speaker 2: why there were difficulties with bail, and then the courts
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  Speaker 2: would look at all the surrounding circumstances. It's not a
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  Speaker 2: total prohibition, but it's most certainly taken into account in
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  Speaker 2: later hearings. And yes, it will impact on your ability
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  Speaker 2: to get bailed that you've breached to bail in the past.
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  Speaker 2: And what's of even more important that if people are
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  Speaker 2: on electronically monitored sentences and violate those, then there's a
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  Speaker 2: higher likelihood that they're not going to receive a similar sentence.
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  Speaker 2: Are in electronically monitored sentence when it comes to sentencing,
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  Speaker 2: so they'll face imprisonment.
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  Speaker 1: Well that makes sense to me, Steve. Thanks for that,
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  Speaker 1: Steve Cullen Criminal word
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