New legislation on sentencing offenders who have been on electronically monitored bail

The time an offender has spent on electronically monitored (tagged) bail (EM bail) will be able to be treated as time served for sentencing purposes under new legislation coming into force on 1 July 2024.

Measures being introduced under the Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Act 2023 mean that courts must have regard to the time spent awaiting trial or sentence on EM bail when passing a sentence of imprisonment or detention.

Under the changes, courts will be able to use their discretion to decide whether to take all, some or none of the time into account in sentencing.

If all or some of the time is taken into account, every two days spent on EM bail will count as one day of time already served when deciding the length of the custodial sentence.

If none of it is taken into account, the court must give reasons for this.

The provision gives courts discretion to assess the circumstances of a specific case and consider whether any breaches of EM bail have occurred or any other relevant information. 

The new provision, under section 5 of the 2023 Act, will apply to sentencing hearings involving EM bail taking place on or after 1 July 2024.

Further information is available on the Scottish Government website.