Bail Bondsmen
Bail is a piece of property (now usually money) which is deposited with a court as a guarantee that a defendant will voluntarily appear for all court appearances. When bail is paid, the defendant is released from jail during the duration of the trial. When the trial is over, and the defendant has met the conditions of the bail agreement (this typically means showing up for all court appearances), the bail is returned to the defendant, whether they are found guilty or not guilty. If the defendant violates the terms of a bail agreement, the court will keep the bail when the trial is over.
A bail bondsman is a person or company who puts up bail for a defendant. Typically, they charge 10% of the total bail amount. So, if bail is set at $10,000, the defendant pays the bondsman $1,000, who then deposits the rest of the bail with the court. The bail bondsman then keeps the $1,000 when the trial is over. This is very useful for a person who wants to be free before and during the trial, but does not have the cash on hand to pay the full bail amount.
However, this arrangement makes bail bondsmen liable for 90% of the bail amount. If the defendant fails to show up to court, they lose all of that money. For this reason, they often employ bounty hunters (or “bail enforcement agents”, as they prefer to be called) to capture anyone who flees while on bail (“skips”). In most states, bail bondsmen and bounty hunters are strictly regulated, to prevent violence.
4 states have banned commercial bail bonds. Those states are Illinois, Kentucky, Oregon, and Wisconsin. In these states, courts usually accept a cash deposit of 10% of the total bail amount, with the agreement that the defendant will have to pay the full amount if they violate the terms of the bail agreement.
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Last Modified: 07-13-2009 04:21 PM PDT
