Before being released on bail the accused must agree in writing to appear before a specified court on a nominated day. Bail can be unconditional or with conditions set by the court. Examples of common conditions include; making the accused deposit a sum of money with the Court and/or agreeing to forfeit that sum of money if they fail to appear, requiring the accused to report regularly to a police station, restricting the accused from associating with a specified person, place or district; or to obliging them to participate in a rehabilitation program.

There are 4 main issues which will be considered in deciding whether or not to grant bail: 1.Probability that the accused will appear, which covers things like community ties, nature of the offence, strength of the Crown case and likely penalties.
2.Particular interest of the accused which covers things like time the accused would spend in custody if bail was refused, the needs to the accused to prepare the case, the physical welfare of the accused.
3.Protection and Welfare which covers things like the protection of the community and any victim, and the protection of the family friends and associates of the victim.
4.The likelihood of further offences.

Bail is the authorisation of the Court for an accused person to be at liberty instead of in custody prior to the hearing of a trial or appeal and at various other times. There is a right to bail for certain minor offences under section 8 of the Bail Act (NSW) 1978, including, for example, those not punishable by imprisonment, and cases where the person is called up for a breach of a good behaviour bond.

There is a general presumption in favour of bail under section 9 of the Bail Act. In section 9 cases the onus is on the prosecution to rebut this presumption in favour of bail. This only needs to be on the balance of probabilities.

However, this presumption is reversed for certain offences, including drug offences involving commercial quantities of prohibited drugs or plants murder or manslaughter, serious drug offences, serious property offences, domestic violence offences, or if a person is arrested while on parole for another offence.

You may also be denied bail if you have a history of violence against a particular person or are charged with disobeying an apprehended violence order by violence or intimidation.

On arresting a person, police are required to provide certain details to the arrested person. These include; evidence that the officer is a police officer (unless they are in uniform) and the name and place of duty of the officer. The police officer must advise of the true reason for the arrest and that refusal to comply with their instructions may be an offence in itself; (i.e. resisting arrest). Police are not obliged to do this if the reason for the arrest is obvious or if the actions of the suspect (i.e. violent struggling) make this impractical.

Most of the powers of the NSW Police to search or arrest a person now come from the Law Enforcement (P& R) Act. A Police Officer may stop, search and detain a person if they reasonably, suspect that the person possesses or controls anything stolen or unlawfully obtained or used or intended to be used in the commission of an offence or a prohibited drug or plant. Vehicles may also be stopped and searched on similar grounds.

Failure to submit to a legal search is an offence.

It is also an offence to unreasonably fail to produce anything seen or detected by Police in the course of a lawful search. Police may confiscate any dangerous implement they reasonably suspect to be in a person's custody.

Police are entitled to search you if you have been placed under arrest or if you consent to them doing so.

The right to silence has been effectively been abolished in Australia in regard to "terrorism related offences" by anti-terrorism legislation under the State and federal anti-terrorism laws. If you do not fully cooperate with Police inquiries this will in it be a serious crime even if you are not charged with anything else.

Apart from providing personal details an accused person is generally under no obligation to take part in any interview and may simply exercise his or her right to silence. However, in some cases this may not be entirely helpful to a person's defence.

You are entitled to receive legal advice before you answer questions, and should not consent to do so without this. The best evidence against most accused people is often their own words, spoken in a misguided attempt to explain or defend themselves.

A citizen is not required to carry identification in Australia and is generally entitled to exercise their right to silence if approached by law enforcement officers. However, there are many exceptions to this and sometimes a refusal to provide particularly your identity may be unhelpful to a person or worse, unlawful.

Criminal law encompasses a vast area of law whereby behavioural standards are imposed upon individuals and groups of individuals as well as incorporated and unincorporated associations (companies and organizations).

These standards have been developed over centuries by Court precedent (common law) and laws enacted by parliaments (legislation).