The Most Common Mistakes People Make With Los Angeles Bail Bonds
What Is a Bail Bond?
A bail bond is an agreement by a prison defendant to look 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 payment in return for guaranteeing the payment. The bail bond is a type of surety bond.
The commercial bail bond system exists only within the United States and the Philippines. In different nations, bail might entail a set of restrictions and situations placed on prison 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 payment of the bail set by the court.
·The bail bond serves as surety that the defendant will seem for trial.
·Judges usually have large latitude in setting bail amounts.
·Bail bondsmen generally cost 10% of the bail quantity up entrance in return for their service and may cost extra charges. Some states have put a cap of 8% on the amount charged.
·The bail system is broadly considered as discriminatory to low-revenue defendant and contributing to the mass-incarceration of young African-American men.
How a Bail Bond Works
An individual who's charged with against the law is typically given a bail listening to earlier than a decide. The amount of the bail is at the choose's discretion. A choose might deny bail altogether or set it at an astronomical level if the defendant is charged with a violent crime or appears likely to be a flight danger.
Judges generally have extensive latitude in setting bail quantities, and typical quantities vary by jurisdiction. A defendant charged with a nonviolent misdemeanor might see bail set at $500. Felony crime prices have correspondingly high bail, with $20,000 or more not uncommon.
The business bail bond system exists solely within the United States and the Philippines.
Once the amount of the bail is set, the defendant's choices are to remain in jail until the charges are resolved at trial, to arrange for a bail bond, or to pay the bail quantity in full till the case is resolved. In the final occasion, courts in some jurisdictions accept title to a house or different collateral of worth in lieu of money.
Bail bondsmen, additionally called bail bond brokers, present written agreements to prison courts to pay the bail in full if the defendants whose appearances they assure fail to seem on their trial dates.
Bail bondsmen generally charge 10% of the bail amount up entrance check here 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 might also require an announcement of creditworthiness or could demand that the defendant flip over collateral within the type of property or securities. Bail bondsmen typically accept most property of value, including cars, jewelry, and houses as well as stocks and bonds.
Once the bail or bail bond is delivered, the defendant is released till trial.
The Disadvantages of the Bail Bond System
The bail bond system has turn out to be part of the larger debate over mass incarceration, especially of young African-American men, in the U.S.
The bail bond system is taken into account by many even within the authorized career to be discriminatory, because it requires low-earnings defendants to remain in jail or scrape together a ten% money price 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. because they cannot afford bail or a bail bondsman's services.
Four states including 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 courtroom. In 2018, California voted to remove money bail requirements from its courtroom system.