Should you get compensation if you are kept in jail when the charges are later dropped?

Answer 1

Here is what I posted to a similiar question a few days ago:
As long as the Police make an arrest based on probable cause then there is no compensation in it for you. Just because the DA decides not to press charges or the court finds you not guilty doesn't mean the officer overstepped his/her bounds.

See:
State v. Taylor 117 NC App. 644,453 SE 2d 225 (1995)
Tangwell v. Stuckey
United States v. Burbridge
United States v. Hughes
United States v. Marshall

All of those cover cases where officers arrested people and for one reason or another there was a reasonable mistake that resulted in the charges not going forward or the subjects contesting the validity of the arrest. None of them got anywhere with it.

Now if the officer(s) frame you then you have a gripe.

Answer 2

No. But there is nothing to stop such a person from taking out a private case against the police for wrongful arrest. It happens and in some cases, where a family have been put under enormous stress and so forth, the compensation can be quite big.

Edit: jxt299 above is right. Just how many people are there here in UK being held in custody illegally by the Gestapo?

People are banged up by the Fuzz here in UK for no other reason than that they want to clear unsolved crimes from their books.

How many accused persons go into court and confess to a string of crimes similar to their own, so as to clear the books a bit and get a slightly reduced sentence? Is this 'truth' or just crap?

"Members of the Jury, do you find the accused prisoner guilty or very guilty"?

Answer 3

No.

To be held, a person had to arraigned before a judge within 48 hours of arrest. If the judge felt there was enough cause to hold the person for charges then the detention is legal. Everyone has the right to bail, if bail was not an option then there is a history of abuse of the system. And most of all dropped charges does not mean innocence and in order for the dropping of charges generally a plea bargain is involved.

Answer 4

No just because charges are dropped it doesn't mean the person is innocent or the police and courts acted improperly.If it is shown that evidence or other things were ignored or tampered with leading to the detention then you can sue for compensation.Often charges are dropped for things like the witnesses dying or the complainant doesn't or is unable to pursue the matter or new evidence comes to light.Why should the government be expected to compensate someone when they were at the time lawfully detained.

Answer 5

Yes. If you are proven guilty, but are innocent, and later the truth comes out, you should be compensated, both for years spent unable to earn a decent wage, and for pain and suffering. I don't think there's a need to pay an exorbitant amount, but it ought to be recognized that you were unjustly punished. There should be some kind of formula, based on the expectation that you would have worked a full-time job 40-hour a week job for 50 weeks a year (vacation/holidays excluded), and in the formula the wage would be adjusted depending on your education, and for inflation over the amount of time you were incarcerated. AND then the amount the State or Federal Prison has spent on housing you during your incarceration - including the costs of housing, food, healthcare, etc., should be deducted from that amount. Obviously, pain and suffering is very subjective, and would depend on the type of case, the prison term, etc.

Answer 6

If you were wrongly convicted then I definately believe that you should be compensated for being imprisoned but just having the police/state drop the charges against you doesn't make you innocent so I don't think the taxpayers should pay for that unless the police make a habit of locking people who they have no real intent of prosecuting.

Answer 7

Hello,

(ANS) It would only be fair and right to receive some level of compensation in those circumstances. Why? because your liberty i.e. your normal democratic freedoms have been taken away from you. You were not able to live your normal life, not able to work, see your family, partner, children, not able to go where you wanted. In essence your life was on hold, your life was taken away from you.

Yes! you should be compensated, but any money wouldn't make up for the lost time in reality I suspect. Our democratic freedoms are taken for granted to an almost frightening degree, the freedoms we have here in this country were hard fought for and won many countless nameless people who died for us in wars so we could have these freedom's.

**Our freedom is under threat once again but this time from a very different direction from a shadowy army of people who seek to impose their extremist perverted concept of Islam up on the rest of us. And the way they seek to impose their ideology is through terrorism, they want to bomb us back into the stone age. Its a nihilistic ideology this is why these people must be stopped.

**Our Freedoms are extremely precious & should never be taken for granted really.

Ivan

Answer 8

No... as much as people claim they have been... No one gets arrested without good reason!

So if someones arrested it's all in the line of investigation and duty... If the charges are later dropped then so be it, but if inconviencing someone for a day or two brings us closer to solving a crime, then so be it...

Answer 9

Charges being dropped does not equate to innocence!

So in a word NO

Answer 10

In the UK you do get compensation, you are given a set amount of money, equivalent to what you would have earned each day, plus a bit extra, minus money for room and board. ie you have to pay for all the food e.t.c. you used.