7 Little Changes That'll Make a Big Difference With Your Los Angeles Bail Bonds
What Is a Bail Bond?
A bail bond is an agreement by a prison defendant to seem for trial or pay a sum of cash set by the court docket. The bail bond is cosigned by a bail bondsman, who expenses the defendant a charge in return for guaranteeing the fee. The bail bond is a sort of surety bond.
The commercial bail bond system exists solely within the United States and the Philippines. In other international locations, bail might entail a set of restrictions and situations placed on prison defendants in return for their launch until 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 court docket.
·The bail bond serves as surety that the defendant will appear for trial.
·Judges usually have wide latitude in setting bail amounts.
·Bail bondsmen typically cost 10% of the bail amount up front in return for their service and will cost additional fees. Some states have put a cap of 8% on the quantity charged.
·The bail system is broadly considered as discriminatory to low-income defendant and contributing to the mass-incarceration of young African-American males.
How a Bail Bond Works
An individual who's charged with a crime is usually given a bail listening to earlier than a judge. The amount of the bail is on the choose's discretion. A choose could deny bail altogether or set it at an astronomical level if the defendant is charged with a violent crime or appears more likely to be a flight threat.
Judges generally have large 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 expenses have correspondingly excessive 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 about, the defendant's selections 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 till the case is resolved. Within the final instance, courts in some jurisdictions accept title to a house or different collateral of value in lieu of cash.
Bail bondsmen, also called bail bond agents, present written agreements to prison courts to pay the bail in Bail Bonds Los Angeles county full if the defendants whose appearances they guarantee fail to seem on their trial dates.
Bail bondsmen usually cost 10% of the bail quantity up entrance in return for his or her service and will cost additional fees. Some states have put a cap of 8% on the amount charged.
The agent may additionally require an announcement of creditworthiness or may demand that the defendant turn over collateral in the form of property or securities. Bail bondsmen generally accept most property of value, together with 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 turn into a part of the bigger debate over mass incarceration, especially of young African-American males, in the U.S.
The bail bond system is considered by many even within the legal profession to be discriminatory, because it requires low-revenue defendants to stay in jail or scrape collectively a 10% cash charge and the rest 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 in the U.S. because they can not 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 quantity to be lodged with the court. In 2018, California voted to eradicate money bail requirements from its court docket system.