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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 courtroom. The bail bond is cosigned by a bail bondsman, who expenses the defendant a payment in return for guaranteeing the payment. The bail bond is a type of surety bond.
The industrial bail bond system exists solely within the United States and the Philippines. In other countries, bail may entail a set of restrictions and situations positioned on legal defendants in return for their 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 docket.
·The bail bond serves as surety that the defendant will seem for trial.
·Judges sometimes have broad latitude in setting bail amounts.
·Bail bondsmen typically cost 10% of the bail quantity up front in return for their service and will cost further fees. Some states have put a cap of 8% on the quantity charged.
·The bail system is extensively seen as discriminatory to low-income 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 before a judge. The amount 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 risk.
Judges typically have vast latitude in setting bail quantities, and typical amounts 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 business 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 Visit the website to stay 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 different collateral of value in 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 appear on their trial dates.
Bail bondsmen usually charge 10% of the bail amount up entrance in return for their service and may charge additional fees. Some states have put a cap of 8% on the quantity charged.
The agent might also require an announcement of creditworthiness or may demand that the defendant turn over collateral in the form of property or securities. Bail bondsmen usually settle for most property of worth, together with automobiles, jewelry, and homes in addition to stocks and bonds.
As soon as 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 become a part of the larger debate over mass incarceration, particularly of younger 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-earnings defendants to stay in jail or scrape together a ten% cash fee and the remainder of the bail-in collateral—even before they stand trial for any crime. PrisonPolicy.org says that about 536,000 persons are being held in jails within the U.S. because they can not afford bail or a bail bondsman's providers.
Four states together with Illinois, Kentucky, Oregon, and Wisconsin have outlawed bail bondsmen and as an alternative 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.