Act 19 of 2018- Criminal Procedure Code Singapore

This article discusses the amendments made in the Criminal Procedure Code of Singapore in Act 19 of 2018. It explains the new process for getting bail, the qualifications of a bailer, and the conditions of release on bail. It also compares the new provisions with the earlier ones and discusses the impact of these changes on the prevention and control of criminal offenses in Singapore.

Act 19 of 2018- criminal procedure code Singapore
Criminal Procedure & Law of Evidence
5/15/2019
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Introduction
Whenever Police arrests any person for a offence which is bailable then there will be a need
of bail from the person who is in custody. A bail is defined as type of security either in
monetary value i.e. cash or undertaking given to court or to police make them(authorities)
sure that the person( accused) will present himself to court or police station whenever
required to do(Marie, 2012). The person who ensures the security is called bailerand
sometimes surety. Whenever a person decide to secure the guarantee of the accused then the
person is assumed to be on “standing bail" . The bail is not fixed and is decided as per
tradition. Depending on the bail amount, the police officer or court can allow have right to
decide the number of bailer or surety for the person(accused) to be bailed (Ahmadi, 2016).
Twoamendments in the part ( vi) of criminal procedure code , Singapore-
Also called Act 19 Cof 2018 Criminal Justice Reform –
1- In subsection 2 of section 92 of the code-When any person is arrested or detained then
while granting bail the court may, in addition of taking bail from the person,
release the person on bail and on personal bond by requiring the person to sign
a personal bond without surety. To be effective from 31stOctober 2018 ("Criminal
Procedure Code - Singapore Statutes Online", 2019).
2- In subsection 3 of section 92 of the code-If person is accused of offence which is not
fine only offence, and court believes, that the person, if released will not surrender to
custody or available for investigation or attend court, the court may refuse to release
the person, whether on bail , on personal bond or both the bail and personal
bond provided that the belief of court must based upon certain grounds
prescribed in the code.
New Process for getting Bail-
For the process of getting bail from police, the accused person needs a bailer. To be qualified
ass as being a bailer a person much posses following qualifications-
 Must be citizen of Singapore or residing permanently in Singapore.
 Age not less than 21 year (Lee Jae Hak, 2016)s.

 Must not be a undercharged bankrupt.
 Must not have any proceedings against court.
 Must possess net worth at least equal to bail amount.
 He must have to prove his ability for being a bailer (Allen, 2018).
The bailer needs to show his ability by depositing cash, showing property certificates etc. He
also needs to bring his NRIC as a proof of identity. He must be ready to be responsible for the
accused person till the case continues. For large amount say $ 10k , a business entity may
stand as bailer. All the conditions of release on bail and other provisions like attendance at
police or court will be clearly explained to the bailed person (Matic, 2016). Accused will be
released from Police custody owing to following conditions-
 He may be told to surrender his travel documents (Youngsung Min & Hyeonggyu
Kim, 2018).
 He have to make himself available when required by court at time ,date appointed to
him.
 He must be away from any offence or criminal activity while released on bail or
personal bond (Kimball, 2011).
 He must refrain from interfering with any of the witness or any activity that can affect
justice delivery by court, whether in his contact or any other.
 He will not be allowed to leave country without consent from police or court in
writing.
Comparison with earlier provisions-
 As per the criminal procedure code of 2010 section 92, the person accused of offence
other than non-bailable offence can get bail by signing personal bond without surety
instead of taking bail by police officers (Committee of Criminal Procedure, 2017).
Whereas in recent amendments there is addition of subsection 2(b) which enables
court or police officer to take bail as well as signing personal bond from the accused.
The amended section will provide more accountability from the accused side and
gives authority assurance about the letter and spirit of the bail provisions.
 Earlier there doesn't exist any provisions if court finds accused non reliable or have
apprehension regarding not attending the bail provisions. There is addition of
subsection 3in which court can deny release to such persons whether on bail or
personal bond or both.

 It added subsection 4 in section 92 of Criminal procedure code 1992 which enables
state court to stay execution of order pending for review before High court . There
doesn’t exist any such provisions earlier (Kaushik, 2013).
Impact of Changes- Act 19 of 2018 brings major amendments in criminal procedure
code 2010 for better prevention , control and mitigation of criminal offences in
Singapore . In the context of bail provisions mentioned in Section 92 of the code , it
added extra safeguards regarding release of persons accused in various offence. It
added safeguard mechanism that require extra measures to prevent further offence or
to have better control over the bailed person.
Conclusion
Due to increased globalisation and technology upgrades there is need to hold better
control using both preventive and punitive measures that has been done to a great
extent by the addition of these provisions. Inserting subsection 2 and 3 in section 92
will assure more efficient justice delivery and prevent any chances of injustice to
anyone as preventing a accused from going away from the reach of law and order can
help them in efficient justice delivery . Subsection 4 now has a provision of staying
execution by state court if pending for judicial review , can prevent injustice to any
innocent or over punishment to any accused of minor crimes. In international
practices of justice delivery mechanism these provisions are in practice from long
time and their experience suggests it as the requirement of time . If authorities are able
to prevent any accused from going away from the proceedings of court then it will be
very useful for timely justice delivery whether to accused or to victim. Both need fair
and equitable treatment in front of law for which provisions of judicial review has
been introduced that can prevent inefficient justice delivery from the hand of
authorities.

References
Allen, J. (2018). 'Making Bail': Limiting the Use of Bail Schedules and Defining the Elusive
Meaning of 'Excessive' Bail. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.3217711
Criminal Procedure Code - Singapore Statutes Online. (2019). Retrieved from
https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/CPC2010
Kaushik, N. (2013). Scope of the Powers of the High Court Under Section 482 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure, 1973. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2316261
Kimball, M. (2011). Granting Sources Anonymity Requires Complex Process. Newspaper
Research Journal, 32(2), 36-49. doi: 10.1177/073953291103200204
Lee Jae Hak. (2016). A study on the position and direction point of Criminal Procedure Code
§ 309 to Criminal Procedure Code § 308 - 2. Journal Of Criminal Law, 28(4), 221-251.
doi: 10.21795/kcla.2016.28.4.221
Matic, V. (2016). Bail in / bail out (the solvency risk). Bankarstvo, 45(2), 134-137. doi:
10.5937/bankarstvo1602134m
Marie, J. (2012). The Criminal Procedure Code of Singapore’ - Annotations and Commentary
.