How electronic monitoring can help support bail decisions
Summary
The Electronic Monitoring Service and HMPPS have created a video, aimed at the Judiciary, outlining how electronic monitoring can help support bail decisions.
Details
The video provides important information about how electronic monitoring works and the different forms of monitoring available including radio frequency curfew tags and location monitoring, or GPS, tags. It outlines how each option can be flexible to allay the concerns of the Court but also to meet the needs of a young person. For example, a young person who spends time between both parents’ addresses, can have two sets of monitoring equipment to allow that to continue or, if they need to travel through their exclusion zone to attend school or college, ‘travel corridors’ can be created by the electronic monitoring service. ‘Trail monitoring’, or ‘whereabouts monitoring’ is also discussed within the video. Although this is not available for Court bail purposes, it can be a useful tool in persuading the Court to impose a community-based sentence instead of a period of detention.
Commentary
Electronic monitoring can be imposed as a bail condition on children and young people aged between 12 and 17 (where the criteria within S.3AA of the Bail Act 1976 is satisfied) as a robust alternative to a remand to Youth Detention Accommodation. The video will assist those working with young people to understand the different forms of monitoring available and inform their submissions on bail. It also serves as a reminder that as standard, only the internal boundary of the young person’s home will be included for an electronically monitored curfew. If the young person has a garden, access to the garden within curfew hours must be specifically ordered by the Court.
For further guidance, see the following YJLC Guide: Court bail and remand and this legal update regarding the Youth Justice Board’s new case management guidance on the use of Intensive Supervision and Surveillance.
Written by Sabrina Neves, Solicitor at GT Stewart Solicitors