B.C. Crown says bail policy changes need to come from federal government

British Columbia has one of Canada's strictest bail condition policies for prosecutors to ask for custody orders, yet repeat violent offenders continue to be released in the majority of cases, Attorney General Niki Sharma said.

British Columbia has one of Canada's strictest bail condition policies for prosecutors to ask for custody orders, yet repeat violent offenders continue to be released in the majority of cases, Attorney General Niki Sharma said.

Her comments come as the BC Prosecution Service released seven weeks of data in response to a directive issued last year by the provincial government to ask the courts to detain repeat violent offenders until trial.

It shows only about a quarter of repeat offenders were kept in custody until their trial for violent offences, the service said.

Sharma said the figures have prompted the government to renew its call for federal bail reform. She said despite the provincial bail directive, judges are still releasing these accused.

"Clearly, what that shows is that bail reform is needed. The laws of the land at the federal level need to be changed," she said Monday at a news conference.

The BC Prosecution Service said in a statement it would be unreasonable to assume policy changes for its prosecutors alone would produce any outcome during a bail hearing.

"In applying the (BC Prosecution Service) bail policy to any particular case, Crown counsel are still bound by the governing federal law under the Criminal Code," it said in the statement.