The trial of a Sunday bail court aimed at releasing detainees unnecessarily held in custody has been welcomed, but a number of concerns have also arisen.
Announced in an email to ACT legal practitioners, the month-long trial of a Sunday morning bail list is set to begin this week and be presided over by Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker.
"The purpose of the trial is to enable participants, including the court, to assess the value and the cost to their organisation," the email said.
Both the positive value and possible negatives appear clear to some of the many parties involved in day-to-day bail applications.
"We certainly support it," Jan de Bruin, Legal Aid ACT's head of crime practice, said.
The extra day will not only take pressure off the Monday bail list, Dr de Bruin said, but prevent people spending an unnecessary night in custody.
"How many times have we seen someone not making the Saturday cutoff, then spending two days in custody awaiting an application on Monday that's not opposed," he said.
But the issue of paying lawyers to work on Sundays remains front of mind, and further funding for the organisation may be needed if the trial is successful.
On their current bargaining agreement, Legal Aid lawyers would be paid at a double rate on Sundays.
Prisoners Aid manager Glenn Tibbitts says the community organisation has not received a funding increase in the past decade.
"We keep hitting a brick wall from the government. It's ludicrous, to be perfectly honest," he said.
"To add an extra day may not seem much, but it will chew into what little funding we do get."
Mr Tibbitts said other issues were likely to arise for people released on Sundays, when most services are not open, including Prisoners Aid.
Often-needed supports include transport, food, accommodation and mental health services.
"If they don't have money to pay for accommodation or a home to return to, it's basically like being released back into homelessness," Mr Tibbitts said.
Despite these concerns, Mr Tibbitts still thinks the Sunday list is a good idea if the courts can accommodate crucial supports for released detainees.
"Ultimately, that's all they are, is basic human needs ... that will go towards stopping recidivism," he said.
"These supports need to be put into place or, otherwise, it's going to be a revolving door."
The ACT Law Society also expressed its support for the trial's intent, especially in determining a person's liberty as soon as practicable.
"We welcome the innovation," ACT Law Society president Tim Dingwall said.
However, Mr Dingwall said certain "access to justice implications" should be considered in assessing the trial's success.
"For example, it is sometimes in a defendant's best interests to remain in custody until a thorough bail application can be prepared," he said.
"In circumstances where less experienced practitioners don't have the criminal law expertise to advise a defendant against making a bail application, the defendant may waste one of the two bail applications they are entitled to make in the Magistrates Court."
A permanent Sunday bail list could be implemented in 2024 depending on the trial's success and "subject to all areas having sufficient funding".
