- Title
- The interests of justice in bail proceedings
- Creator
- Ntontela, Mahlubandile
- Subject
- Criminal procedure -- South Africa
- Subject
- Bail Preventive detention
- Date Issued
- 2019
- Date
- 2019
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- LLM
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/42683
- Identifier
- vital:36680
- Description
- Bail in the South African context is a very contentious issue. Over the years, courts have had to develop principles for the purposes of granting or refusing bail. The interim Constitution of 1994 placed an onus on the State to adduce evidence that interests of justice justified the accused’s incarceration pending trial. After the escalation of crime in the 1990’s and the subsequent public outcry, the Legislature introduced guiding principles as to what would constitute interests of justice in bail proceedings. These principles did not differ much from what the courts had developed over the years leading to the constitutional dispensation. The inquisitorial nature of the bail proceedings was further entrenched by the amendments as they tasked the courts to determine what would be in the interests of justice in every bail enquiry. The legislative amendments further introduced what was termed the reverse onus provisions which were heavily criticised at the time of their introduction. These provisions placed an onus on the accused to adduce evidence to satisfy the courts that the interests of justice were in favour of their release in serious offences, and further adduce exceptional circumstances in respect of very serious offences. It is argued in this research that, despite the development and the codification of the interests of justice concept over the years, the duty of the courts to uphold the constitutional values should not be neglected by the courts when determining what would be in the interests of justice in bail proceedings. The standard by which the courts are to uphold the concept of interests of justice in bail proceedings should reflect the task that has been placed on the courts and not on the parties to the proceedings, when reaching a just and equitable decision in bail proceedings.
- Format
- vi, 55 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Law
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela University
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NMU Department of Criminal and Procedural Law
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | NTONTELA TREATISE FINAL DRAFT.pdf | 548 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |