Will I Go To Jail?
If you are up at night worrying about the prospect of going to jail, you are not alone. It is normal for people facing charges to feel anxious or panicked about being incarcerated, but try to remember that jail is reserved for only the most serious criminals. For people accused of less serious crimes, and for people facing their first offence, jail is often avoidable.
Of course, no lawyer can guarantee the outcome of a case, but at our firm, we do everything we can to help our clients avoid jail. On many occasions, we have developed and implemented strategies that have helped our clients avoid serving any time at all in jail.
Getting Released on Bail
Getting bail for our clients is one of the most important steps we take in our criminal defence strategy. We immediately seek bail to keep our clients out of custody and at home with their families:
- Recognizance: A recognizance is an agreement given to the Court to secure someone’s release from custody. This is a good option when an arrested person is not released with a promise to appear, a summons, or an appearance notice.
- Undertaking with Conditions: Sometimes, an accused person can be released based on an undertaking with conditions. The conditions usually imposed are things like abstaining from alcohol, staying within a certain geographic area, handing over a passport, etc.
- Sureties: A surety is a person who agrees to take responsibility for, and supervise, a person accused of a crime. Typically, a surety must pledge some money to the Court to ensure the accused person obeys the conditions of his/her release from custody. In these cases, we often recommend that a person in custody postpone his/her hearing to allow our firm to present to the court a quality plan that is likely to be accepted. Read more about being a surety here.
Alternatives to Jail
If you plead guilty or are convicted of a crime, there are many sentencing alternatives to serving time in prison.
- Absolute or Conditional Discharge: A discharge serves as an alternative to convicting an accused person. Where the discharge is “conditional”, the person must satisfy the terms prescribed in a probation order (see Probation below).
- Suspended Sentence: The Court has the option to suspend the passing of sentence on an individual who has been convicted of an offence where there is no minimum punishment prescribed by law. In these cases the court considers the age and character of the offender, the nature of the offence and the circumstances surrounding it.
- Probation: Probation is a community sentence option available to the Court. A term of adult probation usually accompanies a suspended sentence or a conditional discharge and results in an offender being subject to Court ordered conditions as part of the sentence. The conditions are set out in a probation order and may include the requirement to report to a probation officer.
- Restitution: There may also be an order for “restitution”. In these instances, someone must make a payment to a person or persons who suffered loss because of his/her actions.
- Fine: There can be an order made requiring someone to pay a fine upon conviction. This may be combined with other sentences.
- Conditional Sentence: A conditional sentence is an option available to a sentencing Court when an individual is convicted of an offence that does not call for a minimum term of imprisonment, and the Court imposes a sentence of imprisonment of less than two years. The sentencing Court can direct that the term of imprisonment be served in the community so long as the offender complies with a number of conditions.
