Bail is a privilege granted to suspects at the discretion of a court. The court exercises this discretion to give temporary freedom to crime suspects pending the conclusion of court trial. Where the bail conditions become stringent, unattainable or out of reach for suspects, suspects overreach themselves and this defeats the moral intentions of ‘bailing’ and the law. This paper discusses how awaiting-trial inmates are the most victimized by the challenges of the criminal justice system in Ebonyi State and how easing bail conditions for awaiting-trial inmates could reduce suspects’ costs of victimization. Using qualitative and quantitative research approaches, a sample of 1498 respondents comprising 623 awaiting-trial inmates, 617 police officers, 145 prison officers and 113 court staff was drawn from Ebonyi State. Multi-stage and purposive sampling techniques were used to reach the respondents. Questionnaire and in-depth interviews were instruments for data collection. Findings confirmed that keeping suspects in prisons longer than necessary is traumatic to suspects. Key recommendations include easing of bail conditions for awaiting-trial inmates by cutting the high bail prices to match the economic capacity of Ebonyi State’s neighborhood or relaxing bail terms that could enable inmates to meet bail requirements.

The Umuada Igbo in Igbo cultural group is one of the most organized, peaceful and endowed women groups in Nigeria. As individuals and as a group, their contributions as farmers, civil workers and managers of human welfare are central to the ability of households, communities and nation to tackle the challenges of poverty and conflicts. It is to be noted, however, that the Umuada Igbo like other women groups from other nations suffer from decreased access to resources and paternalistic domination. However, their traditional and modern contributions make them to be no "pushovers" in the political, economic, religious and social life of the nation. Their roles in these areas are acknowledged. Their developmental efforts are remarkable in the families, communities and the Church. In families and communities, their reconciliatory roles are unsurpassed in support of their husbands, and the empowerment of rural women since they appreciate that empowerment is essential for a new world order and essential to find solutions to many conflicts. To achieve this, an environment for peace has to be created. As an organized group, they have established goals and strategies to pursue peace. This paper aims at studying their roles as agents of reconciliation and vanguards of development in pre-colonial and post-colonial modern Igbo land of Africa. John Burton's Human Needs model (theory) was adopted as a theoretical tool of analysis. Suggestions were proffered on how to use the Umuada as an agency of development to improve the status of women in the society.

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