5 Cliches About Bail Bonds Los Angeles You Should Avoid
What Is a Bail Bond?
A bail bond is an agreement by a criminal defendant to look for trial or pay a sum of money set by the courtroom. The bail bond is cosigned by a bail bondsman, who costs the defendant a charge in return for guaranteeing the payment. The bail bond is a kind of surety bond.
The industrial bail bond system exists only in the United States and the Philippines. In different international locations, bail could entail a set of restrictions and circumstances placed on felony defendants in return for their launch till their trial dates.
Key Takeaways
·A bail bond cosigned by a bail bondsmen is posted by a defendant in lieu of full fee of the bail set by the courtroom.
·The bail bond serves as surety that the defendant will appear for trial.
·Judges usually have vast latitude in setting bail quantities.
·Bail bondsmen usually cost 10% of the bail quantity up entrance in return for their service and may charge additional charges. Some states have put a cap of eight% on the quantity charged.
·The bail system is extensively viewed as discriminatory to low-income defendant and contributing to the mass-incarceration of younger African-American males.
How a Bail Bond Works
A person who is charged with a crime is often given a bail listening to before a judge. The amount of the bail is on the decide's discretion. A decide may 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 wide latitude in setting bail quantities, and typical quantities 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 commercial bail bond system exists solely within the United States and the Philippines.
Once the amount of the bail is ready, the defendant's decisions are to remain in jail until the costs are resolved at trial, to rearrange for a bail bond, or to pay the bail amount in full until the case is resolved. Within the final instance, courts in some jurisdictions accept title to a house or other 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 appear on their trial dates.
Bail bondsmen typically cost Learn here 10% of the bail amount up entrance in return for his or her service and should charge extra charges. Some states have put a cap of 8% on the quantity charged.
The agent may additionally require an announcement of creditworthiness or might demand that the defendant turn over collateral within the type of property or securities. Bail bondsmen generally settle for most property of worth, including cars, jewellery, and houses as well as shares and bonds.
As soon as the bail or bail bond is delivered, the defendant is released till 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 career to be discriminatory, because it requires low-revenue defendants to remain in jail or scrape collectively a 10% money charge 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 not afford bail or a bail bondsman's providers.
Four states together with Illinois, Kentucky, Oregon, and Wisconsin have outlawed bail bondsmen and instead require a ten% deposit on the bail quantity to be lodged with the court. In 2018, California voted to eradicate money bail necessities from its court docket system.