14 Common Misconceptions About Bail Bonds Los Angeles county




What Is a Bail Bond?
A bail bond is an settlement by a criminal defendant to appear for trial or pay a sum of cash set by the court docket. The bail bond is cosigned by a bail bondsman, who prices the defendant a charge in return for guaranteeing the cost. The bail bond is a kind of surety bond.
The business bail bond system exists only within the United States and the Philippines. In different international locations, bail might entail a set of restrictions and circumstances placed on criminal defendants in return for his or her launch till 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.
·The bail bond serves as surety that the defendant will seem for trial.
·Judges usually have vast latitude in setting bail quantities.
·Bail bondsmen usually charge 10% of the bail quantity up front in return for their service and may cost additional fees. Some states have put a cap of 8% 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
An individual who is charged with a crime is often given a bail listening to before a judge. The amount of the bail is on the decide's discretion. A decide may deny bail altogether or set it at an astronomical stage if the defendant is charged with a violent crime or seems prone to be a flight threat.
Judges typically have broad latitude in setting bail amounts, and typical amounts fluctuate 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 extra not unusual.
The business bail bond system exists only in 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 last instance, courts in some jurisdictions settle for title to a house or other collateral of value in lieu of money.
Bail bondsmen, also called bail bond brokers, present written agreements to felony courts to pay the bail in full if the defendants whose appearances they guarantee fail to look on their trial dates.
Bail bondsmen usually charge 10% of the bail quantity up entrance in return for their service and will cost additional fees. Some states have put a cap of eight% on the amount charged.
The agent can also require a statement of creditworthiness or could demand that the defendant turn over collateral in the type of property or securities. Bail bondsmen usually accept most property of worth, including cars, jewellery, and houses as well as 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, 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-income defendants to remain in jail or scrape collectively a 10% money payment and the rest of the bail-in collateral—even earlier than they stand trial for any crime. PrisonPolicy.org says that about 536,000 individuals are being held in jails in the U.S. as a result of they can't afford bail or a bail bondsman's companies.
4 states including Illinois, Kentucky, Oregon, and Wisconsin have outlawed bail bondsmen and as View website a substitute require a 10% deposit on the bail amount to be lodged with the court docket. In 2018, California voted to get rid of money bail necessities from its court system.

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