To what extent is policing policy based on beliefs & wishful thinking? Fraid that is the case with pre-charge bail. We all want pre-charge bail to be effective in protecting victims ie in preventing the not-yet-charged person reoffending. Instinctively it makes sense conditions

work. & this feeling is reflected in qualitative research commissioned by @HMICFRS with lawyers & 27 victims to inform their recent inspection. Latter says "we think there is much more that should and must be done to keep victims who are most at risk safe" & identifies pre-charge

bail as key means of making victims safer. The qual research says: "The application of bail conditions can be reassuring, as this can be interpreted as the police taking victims seriously, making them feel listened to and supported (in comparison to cases where RUI is applied)".

In its findings @HMICFRS says "research from BritainThinks found that victims of these crimes feel that the crime hasn’t been taken seriously when suspects are RUI". The research is great addition to literature on pre-charge bail, of which there is a dearth, but the research also

says that "victims of crime within the sample described being largely unaware whether pre-charge bail or RUI were applied in their cases". This means that little of the testimony of the victims throws light on their attitude to & experience of pre-charge bail.

In fact the case studies speak volumes about how frustrated victims feel about the criminal justice process in general, rather than than about pre-charge bail in particular. Some of the experiences seem to be about suspects on police bail/court bail, rather than pre-charge bail.

Unfortunately we still have no hard evidence that pre-charge bail protects victims any more than RUI, because no data has been collected on offending by suspects on RUI/bail. What is crystal clear is that old style police bail & new RUI keeps suspects & victims in limbo too long

But think it very risky to reinstate pre-charge bail as it used to be without any hard evidence that it protects victims. It imposes a greater burden on police to what end? Priority should be speeding up investigations & communicating better with victims. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/known-unknowns-crazy-world-pre-charge-bail-policy-penelope-gibbs/