CrimProf Alan Young Discusses Shifting Burden of Bail to the Accused

From TheStar.com: Osgoode Hall Law School CrimProf Alan Young recently discussed the Canadian federal government's tabled legislation that would reverse the onus at bail hearings for those accused of serious crimes involving guns.

Instead of requiring Crown attorneys to establish why an accused person should not be released, the new law would shift the burden to the person charged to show why he or she should be granted bail.

"It's a part of the criminal justice process that's remained largely invisible to empirical research," said CrimProf Alan Young.

"Proposing reverse onus (provisions) is a complete shot in the dark, because we don't know if the current regime is effective," he said. "We don't have any real sense of compliance rates or the recurrence of violence while out on bail." Rest of Article. . . [Mark Godsey]