The Ultimate Guide to Bail Bonds in LA
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 fees the defendant a charge in return for guaranteeing the payment. The bail bond is a kind of surety bond.
The commercial bail bond system exists solely in the United States and the Philippines. In different countries, bail might entail a set of restrictions and circumstances placed on felony 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 seem for trial.
·Judges sometimes have large latitude in setting bail amounts.
·Bail bondsmen typically charge 10% of the bail amount up entrance in return for his or her service and should charge additional charges. Some states have put a cap of eight% on the quantity charged.
·The bail system is extensively viewed as discriminatory to low-income 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 earlier than a decide. The amount of the bail is on the choose's discretion. A decide may deny bail altogether or set it at an astronomical level if the defendant is charged with a violent crime or seems prone to be a flight danger.
Judges generally have wide latitude in setting bail quantities, and typical quantities fluctuate by jurisdiction. A defendant charged with a nonviolent misdemeanor could see bail set at $500. Felony crime costs have correspondingly high bail, with $20,000 or more not uncommon. here
The industrial bail bond system exists solely within the United States and the Philippines.
Once the amount of the bail is ready, the defendant's decisions are to remain in jail until the costs are resolved at trial, to rearrange for a bail bond, or to pay the bail amount in full until the case is resolved. Within the final instance, courts in some jurisdictions accept title to a house or other collateral of value in lieu of cash.
Bail bondsmen, additionally known as bail bond agents, provide written agreements to felony courts to pay the bail in full if the defendants whose appearances they guarantee fail to seem on their trial dates.
Bail bondsmen usually cost 10% of the bail amount up front in return for their service and may charge further fees. Some states have put a cap of 8% on the quantity charged.
The agent may also require a press release of creditworthiness or may demand that the defendant flip over collateral within the type of property or securities. Bail bondsmen generally accept most property of value, including automobiles, jewellery, and houses in addition to shares 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 develop into part of the bigger debate over mass incarceration, particularly of younger African-American males, within the U.S.
The bail bond system is taken into account by many even in the authorized occupation to be discriminatory, because it requires low-earnings defendants to stay in jail or scrape together a 10% money charge 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. 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 money bail requirements from its court docket system.