3 Reasons Your Bail Bonds downtown LA Is Broken (And How to Fix It)
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. The bail bond is cosigned by a bail bondsman, who charges the defendant a fee in return for guaranteeing the fee. The bail bond is a sort of surety bond.
The industrial bail bond system exists solely in the United States and the Philippines. In other countries, bail may entail a set of restrictions and situations positioned on legal 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 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 extensive latitude in setting bail amounts.
·Bail bondsmen generally cost 10% of the bail quantity up front 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 considered as discriminatory to low-revenue defendant and contributing to the mass-incarceration of young African-American men.
How a Bail Bond Works
An individual who's charged with a criminal offense is usually given a bail hearing before a choose. The quantity of the bail is at the judge's discretion. A decide could deny bail altogether or set it at an astronomical degree if the defendant is charged with a violent crime or appears likely to be a flight danger.
Judges typically have large latitude in setting bail amounts, and typical amounts fluctuate by jurisdiction. A defendant charged with a nonviolent misdemeanor could Go to this website see bail set at $500. Felony crime expenses have correspondingly high bail, with $20,000 or extra not unusual.
The business bail bond system exists only in the United States and the Philippines.
As soon as the quantity of the bail is set, the defendant's choices are to stay in jail till the charges are resolved at trial, to arrange for a bail bond, or to pay the bail quantity in full until the case is resolved. In the final occasion, courts in some jurisdictions accept title to a home or different collateral of worth in lieu of cash.
Bail bondsmen, also called bail bond agents, provide written agreements to criminal courts to pay the bail in full if the defendants whose appearances they assure fail to look on their trial dates.
Bail bondsmen typically cost 10% of the bail quantity up front in return for their service and may charge additional charges. Some states have put a cap of eight% on the amount charged.
The agent can also require an announcement of creditworthiness or might 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.
Once 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 develop into part of the bigger debate over mass incarceration, particularly of young African-American males, within the U.S.
The bail bond system is considered by many even within 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 not afford bail or a bail bondsman's providers.
Four states together with Illinois, Kentucky, Oregon, and Wisconsin have outlawed bail bondsmen and as an alternative require a 10% deposit on the bail quantity to be lodged with the court. In 2018, California voted to eliminate cash bail requirements from its court system.