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Attorneys Clive Munroe Jr and Yushaine Morgan
Two attorneys are urging the police to improve the quality of their investigations instead of pressing for changes to the Bail Act in order to detain persons who have been linked to crime and violence.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Fitz Bailey last week renewed his call for a review of the Bail Act to minimise incidents in which accused individuals are involved in wrongdoing while on bail.
But attorney Clive Munroe Jr believes the current provisions under the Bail Act are adequate for dealing with the detention of persons charged with a crime.
The problem, he suggested, is that more often than not the allegation made against an individual is "superior to the evidence for which it is supposed to underscore", adding that the culture of the police is such that people are "arrested first and then investigations follow".
Mr. Munroe argued that "the question of bail is not a question of pre-conviction detention" but rather a question of "whether or not you will do the things that are necessary, one, to attend their trial and two, not to disturb the processes that will lead to that fair trial".
Attorney Yushaine Morgan agreed that it is the police's responsibility to present evidence to show why an individual should not be granted bail.
However, he contended that the Bail Act should not be used to "prevent persons from being granted bail solely on the say-so of the police that these persons are members of a gang".
Mr. Morgan and Mr. Munroe were guests Sunday on Radio Jamaica's That's a Rap.
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