A Look Into the Future: What Will the Bail Bonds downtown LA Industry Look Like in 10 Years?
What Is a Bail Bond?
A bail bond is an agreement by a prison defendant to look 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 kind of surety bond.
The business bail bond system exists only in the United States and the Philippines. In other countries, bail could entail a set of restrictions and situations placed on felony defendants in return for their launch till 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 courtroom.
·The bail bond serves as surety that the defendant will appear for trial.
·Judges typically have wide latitude in setting bail quantities.
·Bail bondsmen typically cost 10% of the bail quantity up entrance in return for their service and should cost extra fees. Some states have put a cap of 8% on the quantity charged.
·The bail system is widely viewed as discriminatory to low-revenue defendant and contributing to the mass-incarceration of younger African-American men.
How a Bail Bond Works
A person who's charged with a crime is usually given a bail listening to earlier than 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 danger.
Judges usually have large latitude in setting bail amounts, and typical amounts fluctuate by jurisdiction. A defendant charged with a nonviolent misdemeanor might see bail set at $500. Felony crime costs have correspondingly high bail, with $20,000 or extra not unusual.
The business bail bond system exists only within the United States and the Philippines.
As soon as the amount of the bail is set, the defendant's selections are to remain 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 money.
Bail bondsmen, additionally referred to as bail bond brokers, present written agreements to prison courts to pay the bail in full if the defendants whose appearances they guarantee fail to appear on their trial dates.
Bail bondsmen usually cost 10% of the bail quantity up entrance in return for their service and may charge further charges. Some states have put a cap of eight% on the amount charged.
The agent may also require a press release of creditworthiness or might demand that the defendant flip over collateral within the type of property or securities. Bail bondsmen typically settle for most property of worth, including cars, jewelry, and houses in addition to stocks 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 out to be 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 career to be discriminatory, as it requires low-income defendants to remain in jail or scrape together a ten% 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 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 Additional resources bondsmen and as a substitute require a 10% deposit on the bail amount to be lodged with the court docket. In 2018, California voted to get rid of money bail necessities from its court system.