Bail Bond

A written promise signed by a defendant or a surety (one who promises to act in place of another) to pay an amount fixed by a court should the defendant named in the document fail to appear in court for the designated criminal proceeding at the date and time specified.

A bail bond is one method used to obtain the release of a defendant awaiting trial upon criminal charges from the custody of law enforcement officials. The defendant, the defendant's family and friends, or a professional bail bond agent (or bail agent) executes a document that promises to forfeit the sum of money determined by the court to be commensurate with the gravity for the alleged offense if the defendant fails to return for the trial date.

Most defendants are financially unable to post their own bail, so they seek help from a bail agent, who, for a nonrefundable fee of 10 percent to 20 percent of the amount of the bail, posts bail. A bail agent becomes liable to the court for the full amount of bail if the defendant fails to appear for the court date. Before agreeing to assume the risk of posting bail, the bail agent requires collateral from the defendant, such as jewelry, securities, or written guaranties by creditworthy friends or relatives of the defendant. This collateral acts as security to ensure repayment for any losses the bail agent might incur. If the defendant appears to be a "poor risk," and unlikely to return to court for trial, the bail agent will refuse to post bail. A defendant who has a record of steady employment, has resided in the community for a reasonable length of time, and has no prior criminal record is considered to be a good risk.

The bail agent, the defendant, or other interested party posts bail in the form of the bail bond at the court to which the defendant is to return for the proceeding. The court clerk issues a bail ticket or similar document, which is sent to the police to notify them that bail has been met. The defendant will be released from custody when the bail ticket is received by the police. Liability under the bail bond ends when the defendant fulfills the conditions of the bond by appearing in court on the specified date, or if its terms become impossible to execute, such as by the death of the defendant or his or her arrest, detention, or imprisonment on another offense in the same or different jurisdiction.

If a defendant fails to appear for trial on the date specified in the bail bond, the court will issue a warrant for the defendant's arrest for "jumping bail," and the amount of the bond will be forfeited to the court. The bail agent is authorized by statute to arrest the defendant and bring him or her back for criminal proceedings.

The state of Kentucky enacted a law making it illegal to post bail for profit, thereby outlawing the occupation of bail bond agent.

A bail bond may be similarly used in cases of civil arrest to prevent a defendant from fleeing a jurisdiction to avoid litigation or fraudulently concealing or disposing of assets in order to become judgment proof (incapable of satisfying an award made against him or her if the plaintiff is successful).

[top]Bail Bondsman

A bail bondsman is any person or corporation which will act as a surety and pledge money or property as bail for the appearance of a criminal defendant in court. Although banks, insurance companies and other similar institutions are usually the sureties on other types of contracts, for example, to bond a contractor who is under a contractual obligation to pay for the completion of a construction project, such entities are reluctant to put their depositors' or policyholders' funds at the kind of risk involved in posting a bail bond. Bail bondsmen, on the other hand, are usually in the business to cater exclusively to criminal defendants, often securing their customers' release in just a few hours. Bail bondsmen are almost exclusively found in the United States. In most other countries bail is usually more modest and the practice of bounty hunting is illegal.


History

The first modern Bail Bonds business in the United States, the system by which a person pays a percentage to a professional bondsman who puts up the cash as a guarantee that the person will appear in court, was established by Tom and Peter P. McDonough in San Francisco in 1898.


Modern Practice

Bondsmen have a standing security agreement with local court officials, in which they agree to post an irrevocable "blanket" bond, which will pay the court if any defendant for whom the bondsman is responsible does not appear. The bondsman usually has an arrangement with a bank or another credit provider to draw on such security, even during hours when the bank is not operating. This eliminates the need for the bondsman to deposit cash or property with the court every time a new defendant is bailed out.

Bondsmen generally charge a fee of 10% of the total amount of the bail required in order to post a bond for the amount. This fee is not refundable and represents the bondsman's compensation for his or her services. As the practice of paying a 10% cash premium for a bond became widespread, some courts have recently instituted a practice of accepting 10% of the bond amount in cash, for example, by requiring a $10,000 bond or $1,000 in cash. In jurisdictions where the 10% cash alternative is available, the deposit is usually returned if the case is concluded without violation of the conditions of bail. This has the effect of giving the defendant or persons giving security for the defendant a substantial incentive to make the cash deposit rather than using a bail bondsman.

For large bail amounts, bondsmen can generally obtain security against the assets of the defendant or persons willing to assist the defendant. For example, for a $100,000 bond for a person who owns a home, the bondsman would charge $10,000 and take a mortgage against the house for the full penal sum of the bond.

If the defendant fails to appear in court, the bondsman is allowed by law and/or contractual arrangement to bring the defendant to the jurisdiction of the court in order to recover the money paid out under the bond, usually through the use of a bounty hunter. The bondsman is also allowed to sue the defendant for any money forfeited to the court should the defendant fail to appear.

In most jurisdictions, bondsmen have to be licensed to carry on business within the state. Several unusual organizations often provide bail bonds. For example, AAA (the American Automobile Association) offers a bail bond service to its members who are jailed for ordinary traffic offenses to prevent law enforcement officials from threatening lengthy remand periods before trial if the alleged offender does not plead guilty at arraignment.

Four states—Illinois, Kentucky, Oregon, and Wisconsin—have completely banned commercial bail bonding, usually substituting the 10% cash deposit alternative described above. However, some of these states specifically allow AAA and similar organizations to continue providing bail bond services pursuant to insurance contracts or membership agreements.

[top]External Links

Bail - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

bail bondsman: Definition and Much More from Answers.com

Howstuffworks "How Bail Works"

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/us...dF4l5iCg7In+fQ

Bail - CrimeLine from Andrew Keogh CPD Online CPD, Distance Learning, Ed Cape


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