The Evolution of LA Bail Bonds
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 expenses the defendant a price in return for guaranteeing the payment. The bail bond is a kind of surety bond.
The commercial bail bond system exists solely within the United States and the Philippines. In different nations, bail might entail a set of restrictions and conditions placed on prison 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 usually have large latitude in setting bail quantities.
·Bail bondsmen usually cost 10% of the bail quantity up front in return for their service and will charge further fees. Some states have put a cap of 8% on the amount charged.
·The bail system is widely 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 often given a bail hearing earlier than a choose. The amount of the bail is on the decide's discretion. A decide 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 expenses have correspondingly excessive bail, with $20,000 or extra not uncommon.
The industrial 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 rearrange 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 referred to as bail bond brokers, present 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 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 generally settle for most property of worth, including vehicles, jewellery, and homes in addition to shares and bonds.
Once 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 grow to be a part of the larger Helpful resources debate over mass incarceration, especially of young African-American men, in 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 stay in jail or scrape collectively a 10% money charge 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.