14 Cartoons About Bail Bonds in Los Angeles That'll Brighten Your Day
What Is a Bail Bond?
A bail bond is an settlement by a prison defendant to look for trial or pay a sum of cash set by the court docket. The bail bond is cosigned by a bail bondsman, who expenses 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 circumstances positioned on felony 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 cost of the bail set by the court docket.
·The bail bond serves as surety that the defendant will seem for trial.
·Judges usually have vast latitude in setting bail quantities.
·Bail bondsmen typically charge 10% of the bail amount up entrance in return for their service and may cost additional fees. Some states have put a cap of eight% on the quantity charged.
·The bail system is widely considered as discriminatory to low-earnings defendant and contributing to the mass-incarceration of younger African-American men.
How a Bail Bond Works
A person who's charged with against the law is usually given a bail hearing before a judge. The quantity of the bail is on the decide's discretion. A judge may deny bail altogether or set it at an astronomical stage if the defendant is charged with a violent crime or seems more likely to be a flight risk.
Judges generally have huge latitude in setting bail quantities, and typical amounts vary 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.
As soon as the quantity of the bail is set, the defendant's choices are to stay in jail till the fees are resolved at trial, to arrange for a bail bond, or to pay the bail quantity in full till the case is resolved. In the last occasion, courts in some jurisdictions settle for title to a home or other collateral of worth in lieu of money.
Bail bondsmen, also called bail bond brokers, present written agreements to felony courts to pay the bail in full if the defendants whose appearances they guarantee fail to look on their trial dates.
Bail bondsmen usually charge 10% of the bail quantity 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 press release of creditworthiness or may demand that click here the defendant flip over collateral within the form of property or securities. Bail bondsmen typically settle for most property of value, together with cars, jewelry, and houses in addition to shares and bonds.
As soon as the bail or bail bond is delivered, the defendant is launched till trial.
The Disadvantages of the Bail Bond System
The bail bond system has turn into part of the larger debate over mass incarceration, particularly of younger African-American men, within the U.S.
The bail bond system is taken into account by many even in the authorized career to be discriminatory, as it requires low-earnings defendants to remain in jail or scrape together a ten% money fee and the remainder of the bail-in collateral—even earlier than they stand trial for any crime. PrisonPolicy.org says that about 536,000 people are being held in jails within the U.S. as a result of they cannot afford bail or a bail bondsman's companies.
4 states including Illinois, Kentucky, Oregon, and Wisconsin have outlawed bail bondsmen and as a substitute 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.