Applications for Bail

If a person is on bail, this means they are not held in custody whilst waiting for their criminal matter to be determined in court. The person may sometimes have conditions attached to their bail, with one being that they are required to appear at court for their criminal case.

When charged with a criminal offence, there is generally a presumption of bail. Sometimes individuals are charged with certain crimes, a Bail Justice or Victoria Police may grant them bail from the Police station. However, people who are denied bail by Victoria Police or a Bail Justice can usually apply to the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria for bail.

Applications for bail are usually heard in the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria. In order to be granted bail, the court must take into account various factors which includes, but is not limited to, the nature of the charges, the criminal history of the applicant, their risk of absconding (‘flight risk’), the risk of the applicant committing further offences whilst on bail, whether the applicant poses a danger to the community if released and / or will interfere with prosecution witnesses in the matter.

There are conditions that can be imposed by the court to mitigate risks that may be alleged by Victoria Police. These include curfew, reporting to a Police station, surrendering passport and valid travel documents to the Police and / or not attending any points of international departure.

Bail guarantees, which is generally money held by the court, can also be offered with the condition that it be forfeited to the State if there is a contravention of a bail condition. A bail guarantee can only be offered by person other than an applicant. This person is known as the ‘bail guarantor’.

At the conclusion of a criminal matter, the bail guarantee will be returned to the bail guarantor so long as there have been no contraventions of the conditions of bail.