When a person is arrested in the United States, he or she is often afforded the opportunity to post bail. The process begins when a friend or family member pays money to have the defendant released. The money is held as a type of insurance that the person will come to court to answer the charges against him or her. If the defendant does not make his or her court date, the money will be forfeited after certain number of days.
What Are Bonds?
Because most defendants and their families cannot afford to pay the court, they often turn to bail bond agents for help. A person who sells these written promises is essentially a gambler who bets that the accused will make it to court on time. And since most defendants do, the agent lends them money at a high interest rate in the form of a bond.
Why They’re Risky
If all goes as planned and the defendant comes to court, bail bonds agents make a hefty profit by loaning money in an emergency situation. However, if the accused misses his court date, it is up to the agent to track him or her down. Missing a court date is often referred to as “jumping bail,” since it means that the person who posted the money could lose it. To ensure that this does not happen, agents employ bounty hunters, whose job it is to track down clients who have skipped town. The bounty hunter receives a percentage of the posted amount if he or she can successfully bring the fugitive to justice.
Why They’re Fair
While there is always a risk that a defendant will not show up in court, the system was created because it is unconstitutional to hold a person without trial for a protracted period of time. Since most courts have long backlogs of cases, it can take weeks, even months before the legal system gets to a new case. Remember, a defendant is innocent until proven guilty under US law, which means that bail gives potentially innocent people the ability to live their lives as they await trial.
How Much They Cost
Since all bail bond agents charge a percentage fee, the price depends on the size of the bond. More often than not, bonds are quite small and are used to cover relatively minor crimes that the defendant’s friends and family cannot afford to pay for. Though rates do vary, the standard fee is about 10 percent of the bail. So, if the amount were set at 10 thousand dollars, the defendant would have to pay the agent at least one thousand dollars.
What They Require
When bail is posted, it is often referred to as a surety bond, since it is meant to assure the court that the defendant will stand before a judge. If he does not, the burden of producing the fugitive falls to the bondsman. If he cannot track the defendant down and the police don’t nab him in a certain number of days, the bondsman will lose his investment.
Although a fairly risky profession, bail bonds agents can earn a nice living if they make the right deals.