The Intermediate Guide to Bail Bonds in Los Angeles
What Is a Bail Bond?
A bail bond is an agreement by a criminal defendant to seem for trial or pay a sum of cash set by the court. The bail bond is cosigned by a bail bondsman, who fees the defendant a fee in return for guaranteeing the cost. The bail bond is a kind of surety bond.
The commercial bail bond system exists only in the United States and the Philippines. In different international locations, bail might entail a set of restrictions and conditions placed on legal defendants in return for their release till 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.
·The bail bond serves as surety that the defendant will appear for trial.
·Judges sometimes have vast latitude in setting bail quantities.
·Bail bondsmen usually charge 10% of the bail quantity up entrance in return for his or her service and should charge extra charges. Some states have put a cap of eight% on the amount charged.
·The bail system is extensively seen as discriminatory to low-earnings defendant and contributing to the mass-incarceration of young African-American males.
How a Bail Bond Works
An individual who is charged with a crime is often given a bail listening to earlier than a judge. The amount of the bail is at the judge's discretion. A decide could deny bail altogether or set it at an astronomical level if the defendant is charged with a violent crime or appears more likely to be a flight danger.
Judges usually have huge latitude in setting bail quantities, and typical quantities differ 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 only in the United States and the Philippines.
Once the quantity of the bail is ready, the defendant's choices 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. In the final occasion, courts in some jurisdictions accept title to a house or other collateral of value in Check out this site lieu of cash.
Bail bondsmen, also referred to as bail bond brokers, present written agreements to criminal courts to pay the bail in full if the defendants whose appearances they guarantee fail to seem on their trial dates.
Bail bondsmen generally charge 10% of the bail quantity up front in return for their service and will cost additional charges. Some states have put a cap of eight% on the quantity charged.
The agent may also require a press release of creditworthiness or might demand that the defendant turn over collateral within the type of property or securities. Bail bondsmen typically settle for most property of value, together with automobiles, jewelry, and homes in addition to stocks 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 develop into a part of the bigger debate over mass incarceration, particularly of younger African-American males, in the U.S.
The bail bond system is considered by many even within the legal profession to be discriminatory, because it requires low-revenue defendants to remain 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 persons 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. In 2018, California voted to eradicate cash bail requirements from its court docket system.