Bail Charges in Ontario

“Bail” is one of these words that is often used and heard but without people knowing what it really means. So what is bail?

Bail is simply the release of an accused person pending trial. When the police arrest a person for a crime, they may or may not release that person pending trial. If the person is not released, the police must bring the accused before a justice of the peace or a judge within 24 hours for a bail hearing. Following a bail hearing, the judge or justice may decide to either detain the accused or release him/her with or without conditions. It is this release of the accused pending the trial of the matter that is known as bail.

A person released on bail is not completely free because usually the court will impose conditions to ensure that the person on bail will attend court appearances as required, will not re-offend before trial  and in order to maintain the public confidence in the administration of justice. Typically, when a person is released on bail the court will require that the person be under the supervision of a person, known as a surety.

When an accused person is released on bail, the court will often require that the accused abide by certain conditions.

In order to ensure that the accused is respecting those conditions, the court will often appoint a person to supervise the accused. This supervising person is called a “surety”.

Usually the surety is a person who knows the accused and who is willing to take the responsibility of supervising him or her and making sure that he or she is respecting the conditions imposed by the court. A surety must take his role seriously because if the accused person breaches any of the conditions imposed by the court, the surety may risk losing money or going to jail. It is therefore very important for a surety to know the accused, as well as the charges the accused is facing.

If an accused person breaches his or her conditions a surety is expected to call the police and inform them of that as soon as possible.