What is Bail & How Does it Work

What is Bail & How Does it Work


What is BAIL?

     It is a fundamental concept of Anglo Saxon law passed on to American law, that a person is considered innocent until proven guilty. This is contrary to the legal system in some countries where one is considered guilty and must prove they are innocent. (This is not the case in tax court where for some reason we seem to be going backward.)

  The theory is that a person should not be imprisoned before he is tried or convicted. Likewise, a person should not he subjected to a long incarceration and deprived of a speedy trial.  

   However not all alleged criminals are innocent, and it was soon learned that people tend to flee judgment whether they were innocent or guilty. To make sure that people charged with a crime showed up, courts would ask for a guarantee, i.e. money or property. Starting a long time ago, the courts began to ask a person who did not want to spend time incarcerated while awaiting trial, to put some money on the table to guarantee they would show up at trial down the road.

    Naturally, if the charges involve serious crimes of violence or crime's whose punishment involved long prison sentences or where the defendant is wearing running shoes (a flight risk) the court might well deny bail and jail the alleged offender until the matter of guilt was decided.


How Does BAIL Work

  Modernly many states have permitted Bail procedures to be simplified. By introducing a code adopted by most states, most offenses became rated on a scale that had a degree of uniformity across the nation. The concept of the scale reflects the idea that the more serious the crime, the more the bail amount. The intrinsic concept is that a person should not be kept in jail because he cannot afford to pay his bail. As a result, bail amounts will often be altered to reflect the economic ability of the accused to pay for it.

   Modernly, a minor offense will not require bail or not require payment of the full amount of the bail. A partial payment of 10 percent of the bond amount may suffice and this is a way to deal with the cost without bringing in a bondsman. In some states, traffic courts set the bail and fine at the same amount, so if you don’t show up to contest the charges, the bail is converted into the fine.

   The traditional mode of “get out of jail quick” has been to pay the bail yourself or have an agent, called a bail bondsman, who puts up the money to insure you are going to show up.

   There are two problems here; either you can afford to pay the bail yourself or you cannot. If you pay the bail yourself, it will not be refunded until the trial is concluded with a guilty or innocent verdict. This can take a long time. Likewise, many city and state courts are very slow in paying back the money so you might have to add sixty or ninety days after the trial and sentencing or publication of the verdict before you see any of your money back. For this reason, many prefer to wash their hands of the long wait and ask the bondsman to provide the funds and are happy to pay for the service.

   The other reason one might choose to use a bail bondsman is because you don’t have the full amount of money required for bail. The problem with a bail bondsman is the cost; the fees on a straight cash transaction may be as high as 15 to 17 percent. Each state has its own regulations on the maximum fee allowed. The arrangement you strike with the bondsman may involve cash as well as a lien on your car or property. These surety transactions add costs to the high interest rate you are paying for the bail bond. Credit cards are beginning to be accepted in what used to be an all cash market. Some jails in New York and Florida will now accept credit cards for bail, as will some bail bond agents.
 In some jurisdictions they have started charging the incarcerated a fee for the costs of jailing them, so ironically, in the future you might save money by electing to arrange bail.

  Remember, if you put up money or property for the purpose of bail, you can loose it if the person you are guaranteeing does not show up in court. Friends don’t bail on friends who bail them out, but be careful, not every friend or relative is as concerned about you as they are about themselves. Frequently, parents who put up their home to secure bail for a son or daughter who is a drug addict, will loose the home when that individual skips town to high tail it elsewhere.

 







-- Modified on 5/19/2010 4:43:10 PM

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