What the Heck Is Bail Bonds in Los Angeles county?
What Is a Bail Bond?
A bail bond is an settlement by a criminal defendant to seem for trial or pay a sum of money set by the courtroom. The bail bond is cosigned by a bail bondsman, who charges the defendant a charge in return for guaranteeing the fee. The bail bond is a type of surety bond.
The industrial bail bond system exists only within the United States and the Philippines. In other international locations, bail might entail a set of restrictions and situations placed on legal 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 fee of the bail set by the court.
·The bail bond serves as surety that the defendant will seem for trial.
·Judges usually have broad latitude in setting bail amounts.
·Bail bondsmen typically cost 10% of the bail quantity up front in return for their service and may cost further fees. Some states have put a cap of 8% on the quantity charged.
·The bail system is broadly viewed as discriminatory to low-revenue defendant and contributing to the mass-incarceration of young African-American males.
How a Bail Bond Works
A person who is charged with against the law is usually given a bail listening to before a choose. The amount of the bail is on the choose's discretion. A decide may deny bail altogether or set it at an astronomical level if the defendant is charged with a violent crime or seems more likely to be a flight danger.
Judges usually have wide latitude in setting bail quantities, and typical quantities vary by jurisdiction. A defendant charged with a nonviolent misdemeanor could see bail set at $500. Felony crime charges have correspondingly excessive bail, with $20,000 or extra not uncommon.
The commercial bail bond system exists solely within the United States and the Philippines.
Once the amount of the bail is set, the defendant's selections are to stay in jail until the charges are resolved at trial, to rearrange for a bail bond, or to pay the bail amount in full until the case is resolved. Within the final 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 Check out this site 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 the defendant flip over collateral within the form of property or securities. Bail bondsmen typically settle for most property of value, including vehicles, jewelry, and houses in addition to stocks and bonds.
Once 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 out to be a part of the larger debate over mass incarceration, especially of young 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-income defendants to stay in jail or scrape together 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 within the U.S. as a result of they can not afford bail or a bail bondsman's companies.
4 states together with Illinois, Kentucky, Oregon, and Wisconsin have outlawed bail bondsmen and as a substitute require a ten% deposit on the bail quantity to be lodged with the court docket. In 2018, California voted to eradicate money bail necessities from its court docket system.