How to Outsmart Your Peers on Bail Bonds in Los Angeles California
What Is a Bail Bond?
A bail bond is an agreement by a felony defendant to seem for trial or pay a sum of money set by the court. The bail bond is cosigned by a bail bondsman, who charges the defendant a price in return for guaranteeing the fee. The bail bond is a sort of surety bond.
The business bail bond system exists only in the United States and the Philippines. In other international locations, bail could entail a set of restrictions and circumstances 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 cost of the bail set by the courtroom.
·The bail bond serves as surety that the defendant will appear for trial.
·Judges typically have huge latitude in setting bail quantities.
·Bail bondsmen usually charge 10% of the bail amount up entrance in return for his or her service and should charge additional 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 males.
How a Bail Bond Works
A person 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 might deny bail altogether or set it at an astronomical stage if the defendant is charged with a violent crime or seems prone to be a flight risk.
Judges generally have extensive latitude in setting bail amounts, and typical amounts fluctuate by jurisdiction. A defendant charged with a nonviolent misdemeanor may see bail set at $500. Felony crime charges have correspondingly high bail, with $20,000 or extra not unusual.
The industrial bail bond system exists solely in the United States and the Philippines.
Once the quantity of the bail is about, the defendant's decisions are to remain in jail till the fees are resolved at trial, to arrange for a bail bond, or to pay Check over here the bail amount in full till the case is resolved. In the last 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 agents, present written agreements to legal courts to pay the bail in full if the defendants whose appearances they guarantee fail to look on their trial dates.
Bail bondsmen typically charge 10% of the bail amount up entrance in return for their service and may cost further charges. Some states have put a cap of eight% on the quantity charged.
The agent might also require an announcement of creditworthiness or may demand that the defendant turn over collateral within the form of property or securities. Bail bondsmen generally 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 until trial.
The Disadvantages of the Bail Bond System
The bail bond system has grow to be a part of the bigger debate over mass incarceration, particularly of young African-American men, in the U.S.
The bail bond system is taken into account by many even within the legal occupation 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 before they stand trial for any crime. PrisonPolicy.org says 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 services.
4 states including Illinois, Kentucky, Oregon, and Wisconsin have outlawed bail bondsmen and as a substitute require a ten% deposit on the bail amount to be lodged with the court docket. In 2018, California voted to get rid of cash bail necessities from its court system.