12 Stats About Bail Bonds Los Angeles to Make You Look Smart Around the Water Cooler
What Is a Bail Bond?
A bail bond is an agreement by a felony defendant to look for trial or pay a sum of money set by the court docket. 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 business 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 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 payment of the bail set by the court.
·The bail bond serves as surety that the defendant will seem for trial.
·Judges sometimes have large latitude in setting bail amounts.
·Bail bondsmen usually cost 10% of the bail quantity up front in return for his or her service and should charge additional charges. Some states have put a cap of eight% on the quantity charged.
·The bail system is widely viewed as discriminatory to low-earnings defendant and contributing to the mass-incarceration of younger African-American males.
How a Bail Bond Works
An individual who is charged with a crime 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 prone to be a flight threat.
Judges generally have broad latitude in setting bail quantities, and typical quantities vary by jurisdiction. A defendant charged with a nonviolent misdemeanor may see bail set at $500. Felony crime fees have correspondingly high bail, with $20,000 or more not unusual.
The industrial bail bond system exists only in the United States and the Philippines.
As soon as the quantity of the bail is ready, 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 value in lieu of cash.
Bail bondsmen, additionally known as bail bond brokers, provide written agreements to felony courts to pay the bail in full if the defendants whose appearances they guarantee fail to seem on their trial dates.
Bail bondsmen generally cost 10% of the bail quantity up front in return Helpful resources for his or her service and should charge additional charges. Some states have put a cap of 8% on the amount charged.
The agent may also require an announcement of creditworthiness or might demand that the defendant turn over collateral within the type of property or securities. Bail bondsmen usually accept most property of worth, including cars, jewellery, and houses as well as shares and bonds.
Once the bail or bail bond is delivered, the defendant is launched until trial.
The Disadvantages of the Bail Bond System
The bail bond system has turn into 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, because it requires low-income defendants to remain in jail or scrape collectively 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.