Section 44 provides for amendments to the Bail Act 1976. It amends the "no real prospect" test so that fewer exceptions to bail apply in cases where a there is no real prospect of an immediate custodial sentence. Section 1 introduces a presumption to suspend short custodial sentences of 12 months or less. With a presumption in place, immediate imprisonment is expected to become less likely in these cases, and the court should be able to better anticipate whether a defendant will go on to receive a sentence of immediate custody when considering the exemptions to bail within the Act.
	It also amends the Act to permit the court to impose an electronic monitoring requirement on those defendants who would now be bailed due to this change.
	In addition, it amends the list of factors that the court should take into account, where relevant, when deciding whether certain exceptions to the right to bail apply.
Overview of the Act Part 3: Bail