10 Things Your Competitors Can Teach You About Los Angeles Bail Bonds
What Is a Bail Bond?
A bail bond is an agreement by a legal defendant to seem for trial or pay a sum of money set by the courtroom. The bail bond is cosigned by a bail bondsman, who costs the defendant a payment in return for guaranteeing the payment. The bail bond is a sort of surety bond.
The industrial bail bond system exists solely within the United States and the Philippines. In other countries, bail may entail a set of restrictions and situations positioned on legal 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 fee of the bail set by the courtroom.
·The bail bond serves as surety that the defendant will appear for trial.
·Judges typically have broad latitude in setting bail quantities.
·Bail bondsmen typically cost 10% of the bail amount up front in return for his or her service and will cost further fees. Some states have put a cap of eight% on the quantity charged.
·The bail system is extensively seen 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 before a judge. The quantity of the bail is on the decide's discretion. A judge may deny bail altogether or set it at an astronomical stage if the defendant is charged with a violent crime or seems more likely to be a flight risk.
Judges typically have large 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 expenses have correspondingly high bail, with $20,000 or extra not unusual.
The business bail bond system exists only within the United States and the Philippines.
As soon as the quantity of the bail is about, the defendant's choices are to stay in jail till the fees 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 home or different collateral of worth in lieu of cash.
Bail bondsmen, additionally referred to as bail bond agents, provide written agreements to prison courts to pay the bail in full if the defendants whose Visit this page appearances they assure fail to seem on their trial dates.
Bail bondsmen generally cost 10% of the bail quantity up front in return for his or her service and should charge extra charges. Some states have put a cap of eight% on the quantity charged.
The agent may also require a statement of creditworthiness or may demand that the defendant turn over collateral in the type of property or securities. Bail bondsmen usually accept most property of worth, together with automobiles, jewelry, and houses as well as stocks and bonds.
Once the bail or bail bond is delivered, the defendant is released until trial.
The Disadvantages of the Bail Bond System
The bail bond system has turn into part of the larger debate over mass incarceration, especially of younger African-American men, in the U.S.
The bail bond system is taken into account by many even in the legal occupation to be discriminatory, as it requires low-income defendants to remain in jail or scrape together a ten% money fee and the remainder 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 within the U.S. as a result of they cannot afford bail or a bail bondsman's providers.
Four states together with Illinois, Kentucky, Oregon, and Wisconsin have outlawed bail bondsmen and instead require a ten% deposit on the bail amount to be lodged with the court docket. In 2018, California voted to remove cash bail necessities from its courtroom system.