12 Do's and Don'ts for a Successful Bail Bonds Los Angeles county
What Is a Bail Bond?
A bail bond is an agreement by a criminal 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 fees the defendant a fee in return for guaranteeing the cost. The bail bond is a type of surety bond.
The business bail bond system exists solely in 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 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 payment of the bail set by the court docket.
·The bail bond serves as surety that the defendant will appear for trial.
·Judges sometimes have wide latitude in setting bail quantities.
·Bail bondsmen typically charge 10% of the bail quantity up front in return for his or her service and will charge further charges. Some states have put a cap of 8% on the quantity charged.
·The bail system is broadly seen as discriminatory to low-earnings 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 judge. The quantity of the bail is on the judge's discretion. A decide could deny bail altogether or set it at an astronomical stage if the defendant is charged with a violent crime or appears more likely to be a flight risk.
Judges usually have wide latitude in setting bail amounts, and typical amounts fluctuate 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 more not unusual.
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 till the case is resolved. In the last occasion, courts in some jurisdictions settle for title to a house or other collateral of worth in lieu of money.
Bail bondsmen, also called bail bond agents, present written agreements to prison courts to pay the bail in full if the defendants whose appearances they guarantee fail to seem on their trial dates.
Bail bondsmen typically charge 10% of the bail amount up front in return for his or her service and will cost additional fees. Some states have put a cap of 8% on the quantity charged.
The agent may require an announcement of creditworthiness or could demand that the defendant flip over collateral in the form of property or securities. Bail bondsmen usually settle for most property of worth, together with cars, jewelry, and homes as well as 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 change into part of the larger debate over mass incarceration, especially of younger African-American males, within the U.S.
The bail bond system is taken into account by many even within the authorized profession to be discriminatory, as it requires low-revenue defendants to stay in jail or scrape collectively a ten% money fee and the rest of the bail-in collateral—even before they stand trial for any crime. PrisonPolicy.org says Los Angeles Bail Bonds that about 536,000 people are being held in jails in the U.S. as a result of they can't afford bail or a bail bondsman's providers.
4 states including Illinois, Kentucky, Oregon, and Wisconsin have outlawed bail bondsmen and instead require a 10% deposit on the bail amount to be lodged with the courtroom. In 2018, California voted to get rid of cash bail requirements from its courtroom system.