10 Wrong Answers to Common Bail Bonds in Los Angeles county Questions: Do You Know the Right Ones?
What Is a Bail Bond?
A bail bond is an settlement by a criminal defendant to appear for trial or pay a sum of cash set by the court docket. The bail bond is cosigned by a bail bondsman, who fees the defendant a charge in return for guaranteeing the cost. The bail bond is a type of surety bond.
The commercial bail bond system exists only within the United States and the Philippines. In different nations, bail might entail a set of restrictions and conditions placed on prison defendants in return for his or her launch until their trial dates.
Key Takeaways
·A bail bond cosigned by a bail bondsmen is posted by a defendant in lieu of full payment of the bail set by the court docket.
·The bail bond serves as surety that the defendant will seem for trial.
·Judges sometimes have extensive latitude in setting bail amounts.
·Bail bondsmen generally cost 10% of the bail quantity up entrance in return for their service and may cost extra fees. Some states have put a cap of 8% on the amount charged.
·The bail system is broadly seen as discriminatory to low-revenue defendant and contributing to the mass-incarceration of young African-American males.
How a Bail Bond Works
An individual who's charged with a criminal offense is typically given a bail listening to earlier than a decide. The amount of the bail is at the choose's discretion. A decide might deny bail altogether or set it at an astronomical level if the defendant is charged with a violent crime or seems more likely to be a flight danger.
Judges generally have huge latitude in setting bail quantities, and typical amounts differ by jurisdiction. A defendant charged with a nonviolent misdemeanor could see bail set at $500. Felony crime prices have correspondingly excessive bail, with $20,000 or more not uncommon.
The industrial bail bond system exists solely in the United States and the Philippines.
Once the amount of the bail is set, the defendant's selections are to stay in jail until the charges are resolved at trial, to rearrange for a bail bond, or to pay the bail quantity in full until the case is resolved. Within the final instance, courts in some jurisdictions accept title to a house or different collateral of value in lieu of money.
Bail bondsmen, additionally referred to as bail bond agents, present written agreements to legal courts to pay the bail in full if the defendants whose appearances they guarantee fail to look on their trial dates.
Bail bondsmen typically charge 10% of the bail amount up entrance in return for their service and may cost further fees. Some states have put a cap of eight% on the quantity charged.
The agent may additionally require a statement of creditworthiness or could demand that the defendant flip over collateral in the form of property or securities. Bail bondsmen typically accept most property of value, together with automobiles, jewelry, and homes as well as stocks and bonds.
As soon as the bail or bail bond is delivered, the defendant is released until trial.
The Disadvantages of the Bail Bond System
The bail bond system has grow to be part of the larger debate over mass incarceration, particularly of young African-American men, within the U.S.
The bail bond system is considered by many even in the authorized profession to be discriminatory, because it requires low-revenue defendants to stay in jail or scrape collectively a ten% cash price and the rest of the bail-in collateral—even before they stand trial for any crime. PrisonPolicy.org says that about 536,000 persons are being held in jails in the U.S. because they can't afford bail or a bail bondsman's services.
4 states together with Find out more Illinois, Kentucky, Oregon, and Wisconsin have outlawed bail bondsmen and instead require a ten% deposit on the bail amount to be lodged with the court. In 2018, California voted to remove cash bail necessities from its courtroom system.