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 seem for trial or pay a sum of cash set by the court. The bail bond is cosigned by a bail bondsman, who fees the defendant a price in return for guaranteeing the cost. The bail bond is a kind of surety bond.
The commercial bail bond system exists only within the United States and the Philippines. In different countries, bail might entail a set of restrictions and situations placed on legal defendants in return for his or her release until 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 court docket.
·The bail bond serves as surety that the defendant will appear for trial.
·Judges sometimes have huge latitude in setting bail amounts.
·Bail bondsmen usually charge 10% of the bail quantity up entrance in return for their service and should charge further charges. Some states have put a cap of eight% on the amount charged.
·The bail system is extensively considered 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's charged with a crime is usually given a bail listening to before a decide. The quantity of the bail is on the judge's discretion. A decide could deny bail altogether or set it at an astronomical stage if the defendant is charged with a violent crime or appears more likely to be a flight danger.
Judges typically have broad latitude in setting bail quantities, and typical amounts range by jurisdiction. A defendant charged with a nonviolent misdemeanor could see bail set at $500. Felony crime expenses have correspondingly excessive bail, with $20,000 or more not unusual.
The commercial bail Website link bond system exists solely within the United States and the Philippines.
As soon as the amount of the bail is set, the defendant's decisions 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 cash.
Bail bondsmen, additionally known as bail bond agents, provide written agreements to prison courts to pay the bail in full if the defendants whose appearances they assure fail to seem on their trial dates.
Bail bondsmen generally cost 10% of the bail quantity up front in return for their service and will charge additional charges. Some states have put a cap of eight% on the amount charged.
The agent can also require a statement of creditworthiness or could demand that the defendant turn over collateral in the type of property or securities. Bail bondsmen usually accept most property of worth, together with cars, jewellery, 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 change into a part of the larger debate over mass incarceration, especially of younger African-American men, in the U.S.
The bail bond system is taken into account by many even in the legal occupation to be discriminatory, as it requires low-income defendants to remain in jail or scrape together a 10% money payment and the rest of the bail-in collateral—even earlier than they stand trial for any crime. PrisonPolicy.org says that about 536,000 individuals are being held in jails in the U.S. as a result of they can't afford bail or a bail bondsman's services.
4 states including 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 docket. In 2018, California voted to remove cash bail necessities from its courtroom system.