Okuzeka
Criminal Law & Justice vocabulary · Charges & the Pre-Trial Stage

Bail

Meaning in criminal law & justice, with examples

/beɪl/nounCore term

In criminal law & justice, bail means: Permission for a suspect or defendant to stay out of custody until the next stage of the case, often with conditions or a sum of money paid as a guarantee.

In Turkish: kefalet, kefaletle serbest bırakma, adli kontrol şartıyla serbestlik

How it is used

A court 'grants' or 'refuses' bail; a defendant is 'released on bail' or 'out on bail', and someone who disappears 'jumps bail'. Bail conditions may include living at a fixed address, reporting to a police station or wearing an electronic tag.

Example sentences

  1. The judge granted bail on condition that he surrender his passport.

  2. She is currently on bail and must report to the police every Monday.

  3. Bail was set at fifty thousand dollars.

Common collocations

  • grant bail
  • refuse bail
  • released on bail
  • bail conditions
  • jump bail
  • remandTo order that a defendant waiting for trial or sentence is kept in prison, or released under conditions, until the next court date.
  • pretrial detentionKeeping a person accused of a crime in prison before and during their trial, when a court decides that releasing them would be too risky.
  • custodyThe state of being held by the police or kept in prison, for example after an arrest or while waiting for trial.
  • chargeTo formally accuse someone of a particular crime so that the case can go to court; as a noun, a charge is the formal accusation itself.

More terms: Charges & the Pre-Trial Stage

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not legal advice.