Bail must strike balance

What to make of the hundreds of people who gathered outside the Auckland High Court yesterday to support the implementation of tougher bail laws in the wake of the death of 18-year-old Christie Marceau?

At the forefront of any thoughts must be compassion for Christie's parents, who are enduring the loss of their daughter in tragic circumstances.

Christie died in her mother's arms at the family's North Shore home last year. A man is alleged to have killed the teenager while he was out on bail.

Yesterday Christie's parents launched a campaign, "Christie's Law", to toughen up bail laws in this country.

Among the changes being sought by the Marceaus and their backers are no bail for any person accused of an offence involving serious violence, or anyone accused of an offence which attracts a sentence of two years imprisonment or more.

They are also calling for the views of victims of violent offending to be given paramount consideration, and more accountability for judges who expose the public to undue risk.

It's hard to quibble with the later two points - the victims of any crime should always be given paramount consideration, regardless of whether it's violent offending, white-collar crime, or petty vandalism.

As for judges, workers in every other occupation in this country are called to account when things go awry, so why should judges be any different? While the intellect required to take on such an important and high-profile role automatically grants judges a measure of esteem and authority, it can only be hoped that same level of intellect will ensure that most judges would welcome increased scrutiny of their performance.

However, caution is also needed - it is too easy to blame judges in hindsight.

Bail terms and conditions can only do so much, and there is not a judge in this country who would grant bail to a suspect if he or she felt there was an appreciable risk that harm may result from it.

Care is also needed around the calls to scrap bail for people whose alleged offending falls into a particular category of seriousness.

As unpalatable as it may be for some to accept, the most basic tenet of our justice system remains that people are innocent until proven guilty.

Being held in custody is a punishment in itself, and automatically extending that punishment to people who are still only under suspicion of having committed a serious offence is dangerous territory indeed.

It is understandable that Christie's parents are seeking to make changes. Hopefully it will in some way help them to come to terms with the tragic loss of their daughter. But our bail laws are required to strike a delicate balance between ensuring the rights of the individual, and keeping the public safe.

There should always be debate around whether the legal system gets that balance right, and hopefully the launch of the Christie's Law campaign will foster that debate, for the betterment of us all.

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