| During
the colonial period, Americans relied upon the existing bail
structure that had evolved in England over several hundreds of
years. However in 1776, when the colonists declared their
independence, they no longer depended on English law, rather they
set down policies which closely corresponded to English tradition.
In medieval England,
processes to ensure that the accused would appear for trial began as
early as the trials themselves. It wasn't until the 13th century
that the Sheriffs were allowed to determine when a defendant could
be detained for trial and when he could be released with a guarantee
or a promise that he would return to stand trial. Unfortunately, the
sovereign authority held by Sheriffs was not always equitably
disseminated throughout each region. As a result, the Statute of
Westminister was established in 1275, and eliminated the discretion
of sheriffs with respect to which crimes were and were not
bail-able. |
It wasn't until several centuries
later that bail law underwent its next major change. Early in the 17th century
when King Charles I did not receive funds from the Parliament, he required
several noblemen to issue him loans. Those who refused were imprisoned without
bail. Five knights previously incarcerated for this offense filed a habeas
corpus petition arguing that they could not be held indefinitely without bail or
trial. In court, Attorney General Heath contended that the King could best
balance the interest of the state security along with the interest of individual
liberty if he was allowed to continue to exercise his sovereign authority to
imprison. The court upheld Attorney General Heath's argument.
In response to the King's action
and the court's ruling, Parliament issued the Petition of Right of 1628 arguing
that contrary to the Magna Carta and other laws guaranteeing that no man could
be imprisoned without due process of law, the King had recently imprisoned
people before trial when no just cause had been shown. Unfortunately, the King,
the courts and the sheriffs were able to defeat the intent of the Petition of
Right of 1628 by creating various procedural delays in granting the writs of
habeas corpus. It wasn't until these procedural delays were critically excessive
that Parliament passed the Habeas Corpus Act of 1677. The Act stated:
A magistrate shall discharge the said prisoner from Imprisonment taking his or
their Recognizance, with one or more Surety or Sureties, in any Sum according to
their discretion, having regard to the Quality of the prisoner and the Nature of
the offense, for his or their Appearance in the court of the Kings bench unless
it shall appear; that the Party (is) committed for such Matter or offenses for
which by law the Prisoner is not bail-able.
|
|
Although the Habeas Corpus Act of 1677
improved administration of bail laws, it didn't provide any protection against
excessive bail requirements. As a result, even if a suspect was accused of a
bail-able offense, he may still be detained if the bail amount was inordinately
high. As substantiation of this abuse reached Parliament, it responded with the
English Bill of Rights of 1689. The Bill of Rights proposed to resolve this
issue by proclaiming "that excessive bail ought not to be required." Thus, the
concept of the Eighth Amendment in the U.S Constitution was drafted to prevent
the accused of bail-able offenses from exorbitantly high bail requirements. It
is important to note that while the amount of bail was addressed, it did not
alter the categories of bail-able crimes as referenced in the Statute of
Westminister and clearly did not guaranty the right to bail.
In 1789 James Madison was commissioned to prepare an initial draft for the Bill
of Rights and essentially used verbatim Section 9 of the Virginia Constitution
which provided that "Excessive bail shall not be required;." During the
congressional debates Mr. Livermore voiced his concern that this amendment only
required that bail not be excessive, but didn't provide a definition of what
constituted an excessive bail requirement.
The bail clause in the Eighth Amendment was only the first part of the
structure. The final part of the American bail structure and the basis upon
which the Constitution provisions are based is the statutory classification of
justice officials' power concerning bail and the categorization of crimes into
bail-able and non-bail-able offenses.
The Eighth Amendment forbiddance of excessive bail resolved that bail might not
be exorbitant in those cases where Congress has deemed it suitable to permit
bail. The Congress then enacted the Judiciary Act defining what offenses would
be bail-able. Habeas corpus protection was provided by Article 1 of the
Constitution.
In 1966, Congress enacted the first major substantive change in federal bail law
since 1789. The Bail Reform Act of 1966 created a principle for releasing a
suspect with as little burden as necessary in order to insure his appearance at
trial. In 1969 the Judicial Council Committee studied Bail Reform Act of 1966,
and was particularly bothered by the release of potential dangerous non-capital
suspects permitted by the 1966 law and recommended that even in non-capital
cases, a persons dangerousness be considered in determining conditions for
release. Congress upheld the ideals put forth in the committee's proposal and
changed the 1966 Bail Reform Act as it applied to persons charged with crimes in
the District of Columbia. With that decision by Congress came the bail system,
as we know it today. |
Checks Accepted Here.